Day 3-A New Tradition:Tzedakah Night

Welcome to Day 3 of our 8 Days of Hanukkah!!
Several years ago we decided that on the night when we have our family best friends over for Hanukkah we were not going to exchange gifts.  Our children have so much already and really, the joy on that night is being together, lighting all the children's Hanukkiahs together, playing dreidel...

 and enjoying the act of giving.  On that night, each of our children selected an animal to "adopt" from World Wildlife Fund for one of their friends.  The kids LOVED doing this and each year since we have selected a new Charity to focus on...from the Binky Patrol where we made blankets, to collecting stuff for a local dog adoption agency that needed supplies to this year...well, sky's the limit!!  We will be making our own Tzedakah boxes to keep the giving all year round and see how much the kids collect over the course of a year- to be donated to a new Charity nex year!
Here is a great resource for blank Tzedakah Cans..I will be ordering from here for my Tzedakah Night Party; http://www.tjssc.com/pc-2064-41-tzedakah-boxes-arts-craft-project-for-decorating-10.aspx and we will be decorating them with the colorful and fun Hanukkah papers from Crafting Jewish Style.

Many other families are doing the same and I encourage you to consider giving up a night of presents for your own children and bring the focus of GIVING and TZEDAKAH back into the holiday for your family.
Some other worthy tzedakah causes to get you started:


– MAZON, the ongoing Jewish battle against hunger.

– Heifer International gives kids a fun way to send cows, goats and chickens to impoverished villages around the world.

– Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, a way to say thanks to Righteous Gentiles who risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust.

– MooreMart is a civilian-based effort to send care packages, school supplies and sports equipment to American soldiers bonding with children in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo.

– Friends of the IDF gives Israeli soldiers a pizza, soft drinks, coffee, Bamba, and just a sense that strangers care about them and their mission.

– 88 Bikes spreads happiness one kid at a time, one bike at a time, to orphanages around the world.



My Charity Water

So what do you think of this new tradition?  Let us know in the comments for your chance to win a prize!