Churches collect cans and dry goods for food drives. People freeze outside of Cubs and Walmarts shaking a bell next to a red kettle. Families in need receive help from strangers over the radio. It is the season of giving.

Our society, though, is also in a state of seasonal giving. Due to the infusion of goodwill and charity during the holiday season, most people lend help during the last month of the year. A third of all charitable donations occur in December alone. But what about the rest of the year?

I find one of the problems to be our holidays. Each holiday has its own feeling or atmosphere attached to it. These feelings are expressed for the day or month a particular holiday resides with. We are thankful for our families, friends, etc. on Thanksgiving. We are romantic on Valentine’s Day. We give to others, especially those in need, during the December holiday season.

These feelings are so ingrained in these holidays that they can become trapped in them. These feelings are strongest during these select holidays.

This becomes especially troubling with the idea of seasonal giving. The attention given to those in need during the holiday season is good. However, the lack of attention they receive the rest of the year is concerning.

Families and individuals who are homeless and starving need help beyond the small window of December.

I think one of the ways to solve this is to encourage giving and volunteering throughout the year. Data supports that volunteers are twice as likely to be donating to causes year round than non-volunteers.

There is volunteering outside of the holiday season but not as much as needed. The influx of volunteering during the season is helpful due to the harsh winter weather, but other seasons require just as much help in other ways.

This is also important due to the steady decrease in volunteering in general. 35.3% of the population of Minnesota are volunteers. This could be better, but it’s not bad when compared to Louisiana’s 19.4%.

Volunteers remain cognizant of helping others and issues beyond their time.

We should give to others but also volunteer to causes we believe in. This volunteering could stretch the goodwill of the holiday season beyond December and we might just defeat seasonal giving.

True Dabill can be reached at dabi7280@stthomas.edu.