With another Thanksgiving now passed, families have returned back to their homes with full stomachs and loads of leftovers. This year’s Cyber Monday is expected to surpass previous years’ records, so we must not forget another important part of this holiday season: Giving Tuesday!

What is Giving Tuesday?

As has been tradition, Giving Tuesday is celebrated on the Tuesday following Thanksgiving every year across the country. This day is a day of generous donation and a great opportunity for outreach to causes that are within communities and needing support. This year, Friends In Deed is participating in Giving Tuesday as a way to connect with more people within the community and provide their services with greater outreach. Whether your donation comes in the form of volunteering, gifts/furniture donations, or money, each effort received is extremely valued and appreciated by both the organization and the families within the Washtenaw Community who will benefit from your involvement.

Easy to Give

One of the main facets of the event is the use of social media in order to help connect more individuals with organizations within their community and beyond. Friends In Deed has prepared a multitude of ways in which to organize efforts and make donations this year as easy as possible. With the donation portal front and center on the organization’s website, it is both simple and easy to donate to the Friends In Deed – Bed and Crib Drive that is being run during this holiday season.

Provide a Basic Need: A Place to Sleep

The Beds and Cribs are all going to be used to provide comfortable and safe sleeping conditions for families that are in need and have reached out to the organization. Part of this campaign has been to always keep in mind the need and benefit of a warm and safe place to sleep at night for every member of the family. With the social media involvement and awareness quickly spreading, the organization would like to hold true to the value of providing services that other programs have not been able to provide. #KeepYpsiSleeping is a movement Friends In Deed has started and we would love to call on all of our community members to become a part of this vital and socially important fight against poverty. So we invite all members of the Washtenaw County community to come together to make this Giving Tuesday one of the best and the Friends In Deed Holiday Bed & Crib Drive the most successful it’s ever been.

How Do I Make a Bed or Crib Donation?

The Holiday Bed & Crib Drive is about collecting monetary donations for the purchase of new beds or cribs. If you are interested, you can donate or pledge funds for the purchase of a specific item (crib mattress, crib, bed, bunk beds). Alternatively, you can donate whatever amount feels right; these types of donations will be added together for the purchase of additional beds.

Best of all, for every four (4) beds donated by folks on Giving Tuesday (11/29), Van Winkle Mattress Co. will donate an additional bed!

The Holiday Bed & Crib Drive runs through the end of the year. While donating on Giving Tuesday has the benefit of a matching donation from Van Winkle Mattress Company, donations can be made on any date and time.

By:  Kelsey McInerney