Her mom and dad matched what she collected from her friends, and she was able to present the charity, which serves the area’s homeless, with a check for $250.21.

It was a lovely gesture—and a reminder that as we celebrate the year-end holidays we can use the opportunity to give others a reason to celebrate as well. Here are some suggestions:

• Make parties do double-duty. When some friends and I were discussing our annual holiday party, one asked if she could make a suggestion: “Would it be okay if we asked everyone to bring a nonperishable food item that we could donate to a local food bank?” Drat! I thought, a little embarrassed with myself. Why didn’t I come up with that?

Get-togethers to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and other cultural holidays are perfect occasions to collect much-needed food for the world’s hungry. According to the most recent stats provided by Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest), in the United States alone by 2008 more than 49 million people were living in households where food is limited. That was an increase of 13.1 million from the previous year—and the number is probably higher now. One in four American children lives with hunger issues. And every donation counts.

• Enlist the kids as elves. Help your children understand their own blessings and the value of helping others by giving them a role in your charitable endeavors. Give them the task of picking out new, unwrapped toys that you can donate to Toys for Tots, or of choosing a child’s name from an angel tree then shopping to fulfill that child’s wish list. Another option is to ask your children to choose one toy in good condition from their own collections that will be donated to charity to make room for the new ones they’ll receive.

• Lend a helping hand. Can you spare time to volunteer for a local charity during the holiday season? If not, how about lending a helping hand to an overwhelmed friend? Perhaps you could babysit for stressed parents, giving them time to do their holiday shopping. Maybe you could prepare extra portions of your holiday meal to share with an elderly shut-in. How about helping a single mom string her outdoor Christmas lights or put up her tree?

• Expand the guest list. When I was growing up, Christmas dinner at our house was like an excursion at a retirement village. That’s because my mom always hosted elderly friends and relatives who had no place else to go. It was joyful to see so many happy people who would otherwise have been alone.

Do you know anyone who has nowhere else to go for the holidays? Could you set an extra place at your table? Holidays are about sharing experiences and building memories. What better way to fill your memory book than with images of spreading joy to those who need it?