During the holiday season, which encompasses several holidays between Thanksgiving and the New Year, including Christmas, we often look for ways to serve our communities.
As we reflect on the end of the year, we want to give back.
And there are plenty of ways to give back to our community. We have several charities aimed at alleviating issues like:
- Food insecurity
- Inaccessible childcare
- Unaffordable housing
I know these are issues in our community because I serve on boards that work to address them. We’re always looking for donations of time, talent and treasure because the need is there — and only continues to grow.
Indeed, even though Idaho’s cost of living is below the national average (well, housing has tweaked those numbers a bit), our average wages are even lower. Anything our neighbors save by living in a low-cost-of-living area is more than offset by Idaho’s relatively low wages.
So, while giving is top of mind during the holiday season, we often forget about the needs of our community year-round.
As we approach the end of the 2024, and as we reflect during this season of light, I encourage you to think about how you can be more involved throughout the coming year.
Too often, we are reactive in our approach to building better communities. An event, calamity or policy change forces us to see that there are issues. We want to fix the problem. And that’s laudable. But, as they say, prevention is the best cure.
What are we doing in our communities to take action before the catastrophe? When we build resilient communities by participating year-round rather than just during certain seasons, we’re better able to rise to the occasion.
Rather than making one-time donations at the end of the year, review your budget and see if you can give consistently throughout the year. Consistent donations help organizations better plan — and it ensures that they have money throughout the year to meet needs.
Instead of volunteering only during the holiday season, check your calendar to see if you have two or three hours each month to be a consistent volunteer. This helps organizations fill needs throughout the year.
And, on the policy side, realize that getting upset at an electoral outcome and then wanting to take action after the fact is less effective than being involved in the lead-up. Pushing for political change is a slog. It’s not very sexy. Indeed, most of the strides we’ve made locally involved people consistently contributing behind the scenes, doing tedious work.
But if we are truly committed to change that impacts us for the better, we need to acknowledge that it takes a combination of individual effort and public involvement. We need to review policies that entrench the systems that result in the need we see around us. And we need to be educated and engaged citizens.
Miranda Marquit, Master of Business Administration, is a nationally recognized financial expert, writer, speaker and author. She is the vice chair of the Bonneville County Democratic Central Committee.