Low-income families. Children at risk. Lonely senior citizens. Disabled veterans. Homeless families. They all deserve to celebrate during the holiday season, don’t they?

The holidays are a perfect time FOR YOU to brighten the lives of people who could use it. That’s where putting together a charity shopping event becomes magic! And I know it first-hand, because I’ve been part of this for over 10 years in a row now! Every December it’s one of the days I look forward to the most!

There’s a lot of charitable groups who participate in holiday toy drives or “adopt-a-family” activities. That’s an option. And I know a lot of you have told me about “Toys for Tots” or other tag-along programs that you’ve wrapped into client events around the holidays. And that’s great, I’m proud of you for it.

But another idea is to set up YOUR OWN group-shopping event over the holidays. For example, every December, Advisors Excel employees go shopping at Kohl’s with approximately 120 of the most at-risk, in-need students from the largest school district in our community. Two employees help each child to shop for items on the youngster’s wish list. For many of these kids, this shopping trip is their only Christmas.