All the Ways to Help on Giving Tuesday

Episode 018

Ben Walters: [00:00:00] I wanna tell you today how you can be a holiday hero. Behind me is found House, which is in my neighborhood, and I'm walking my dogs today. This is giving Tuesday many of us think of giving as something where you need millions and millions of dollars if you need to be, you know, a foundation or something. My college is always sending things like capital campaign and a lot of us, we just don't have that kind of money. We kinda write it off. The reality is each of us can give. One of the cool things about Found House just back down the street, and if you look back down there you can see across the street they have an area to walk dogs. One of the unique things about Found House is that they have the capacity for families to be able to keep their dogs. That's really cool. So like for me, if I was experiencing homelessness and I had to give these guys up, it would be doubly devastating.

Ben Walters: But the other thing is [00:01:00] that is a day shelter. The families actually go to churches or synagogues or mosques. It is interfaith. So there's all kinds of groups working on that. Those dogs need walks right? During the day they're just there all day by themselves. So they have volunteers that do that.

Ben Walters: I know neighbors as young as, junior high, along with a parent, they can walk the dog. Those kids get the experience of having, the commitment to do that every day, to walk the dogs, but also it's something to put on their college essay and it helps the families 'cause they're out at the shelter. So a place like Found House is a place you can really connect with.

Ben Walters: But there's other ways too. We're now in the park this is our neighborhood parks, but one cool thing and most cities obviously have parks, but they also have parks foundations that are kind of the backbone of the park system. As you look around here, all this just got replaced. Everything from the drinking fountain to brand new swings, brand new really awesome basketball courts and [00:02:00] resurfacing. But like I said earlier, many of us think we don't have the money for that kind of gift.

Ben Walters: But the cool thing is like here at this park, they dropped a huge load of mulch, they needed volunteers from the community to mulch it doesn't look great now, but down in the corner they have a lot of flowers and that kind of thing. What we see in our neighborhood, if you look around, we have lots of big towers like behind us, we have a lot of towers, and these are predominantly filled by empty nesters.

Ben Walters: People who have given up their properties and now are, you know, just living in that tower. Well, it's hard to garden from one of these towers, but you may love gardening and flowers and that kind of thing. So park system has opportunities for folks to volunteer where they can then can reconnect with their love of gardening, but also make the parks that everybody enjoys in our communities more beautiful.

Ben Walters: That's a really cool way. Up here, you can't see it now because it's mowed over, but. This was a community garden where there was all kinds of, vegetables and tomatoes and cucumbers and that sort [00:03:00] of thing. It's really neat 'cause then you can teach kids, it was actually a kids' garden. You can teach kids about that, but you can also then reconnect with your love of that.

Ben Walters: Now I'm heading up toward, this is actually my church. It's a Tuesday so you don't have any cars here today, but I wanna show you a couple other things, simple ways on Giving Tuesday to give back. We're gonna go in here and the dogs are probably gonna think this is a bit strange, so I'm gonna let them go and we're gonna go down here.

Ben Walters: So as you can see, a bottom of the stairs, there's some donations. This area here is called a community closet. In our community, there's a lot of families in need. Either the families at Found House or the next organization I'll show you.

Ben Walters: They've got a diaper station here where people can donate diapers. That's a pretty simple thing, but diapers are really expensive, so they can donate diapers. If somebody needs a stroller. And then what's cool is families can come here and you can see 3T girls summer, 2T, [00:04:00] 16 months, all that, kids socks, there's all kinds of wonderful books. Ask me about my mood ring or here's one for a younger kid, game tablet, Everyday Angel, Noah's Ark and then coloring supplies, little purses, play toys for a toddler, tons of toys, holy cow. Pretty polka dot dresses. USA soccer, that's cool right there. Little sweatshirt for some of the kids.

Ben Walters: And then housewares. Some of the families set up a new home. You've got throw pillows, shoes, more shoes, all kinds of stuff. Think about in your closet all the stuff that maybe your kids have outgrown or you just have been saving, but you don't know why. There are places like this in every community that need these kind of donations.

Ben Walters: Another cool way you can be the holiday hero this holiday season and on Giving Tuesday is to give to something like this called the People's Pantry. Very [00:05:00] simple concept here in our neighborhood, but they have these all over the country. This is an old newspaper box, Cincinnati Enquirer, Most people don't buy their newspapers by these, so this is outside our church. The motto is "give what you can, take what you need." Neighbors can come by simple give syrup or Kraft mac and cheese or maybe some corn or green beans. This week, this thing will be hit hard because people are catching up from their holidays and they're excited about that. But how simple is that? You don't have to schedule an appointment. You don't have to do anything out of the ordinary. A lot of times, especially people with social anxiety, they don't wanna have to deal with other people to give. That's a way literally, neighbors can just come by with a few things and put it in their routine. I know we talk a lot about giving at the holidays, but what I wanna think about is not only can you be a hero at the holidays, you can be a hero throughout 2026, and I guarantee you, if you start making walking the dogs at Found House [00:06:00] or giving clothing or giving food to the People's Pantries, if that's part of your routine in 2026, I guarantee you, you will be more SuperPumped than you are right now.

Ben Walters: Don't blow off giving Tuesday because you can't give a $5 million charitable gift to your college or to some foundation. Go walk a dog, go garden in the park, go spread mulch, give to the People's Pantry, give some diapers. I guarantee you, you will be SuperPumped and the people who receive that are also gonna be SuperPumped.

Ben Walters: Thanks for joining me today on the SuperPumped Life podcast. If you enjoyed today's show, I have two really quick next steps for you. First, subscribe or follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube so you don't miss future shows. And second, jump on 

Ben Walters: over to superpumped.com where there are all kinds of great tips and tools for you to launch your SuperPumped Life.

Ben Walters: [00:07:00] Keep well and I'll see you next time.