JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — After stuffing yourself on Thanksgiving, braving the crowds for holiday shopping on Black Friday and scouring the world wide web for deals on Cyber Monday, the Tuesday following Thanksgiving is a day dedicated to giving back.
Since 2012, the day has been designated as GivingTuesday, a day to support charitable and nonprofit organizations by making donations or volunteering time.
According to givingtuesday.org, the global movement has inspired hundreds of millions of people to give, collaborate and celebrate generosity.
First Coast News is sharing some of our favorite local charitable and nonprofit organizations to support year-round -- and if you're looking for a way to do some good in the community, here are just a few places you might consider.
First Coast Honor Flight
Website: www.firstcoasthonorflight.org
First Coast Honor Flight's mission is to take veterans to visit their War Memorials in Washington D.C. This is a unique opportunity to show our gratitude to these Heroes who made it possible for us to enjoy the freedoms we have today.
FCN Anchor Lew Turner, who serves on the group's Board of Directors, says he "love(s) the mission of taking veterans on a flights to Washington DC, all free to them, to see the memorials built for them. It’s also amazing to see first hand the reception the veterans receive everywhere they go."
RELATED: 'Place for healing to begin': First Honor Flight leaves from Jacksonville to honor Vietnam veterans
Hugs St. Johns
Website: https://www.stjohnshugs.org
Hugs St. Johns is an all-volunteer nonprofit dedicated to providing assistance to children in need in St. Johns County. Hugs does that in many ways including through its clothing closet where volunteers pack bags full of clothes to be delivered discreetly to students at school. Hugs also stocks food pantries at St.Johns County schools and over the winter break volunteers back more than 1000 bags of food to send home with students.
FCN Anchor Heather Crawford says "It’s a great organization helping meet the needs of children in our community."
BEAM
Website: https://jaxbeam.org/
BEAM is a community-based organization serving low-income residents in Jacksonville’s Beaches communities and relying heavily on community support to assist neighbors in time of need.
FCN Multimedia Marketing Strategist Collette Strickland says "During COVID, I served as a Senior Resource Officer and I adopted two senior women that I called twice a week to check in on. I made sure that they had everything they needed, plus provided friendly conversation at the same time. There were weeks when I was their only phone call. We arranged for food delivery, had prescriptions delivered, and did wellness checks. One of the women I partnered with had to go to dialysis each week, and as you can imagine during COVID, the coordination was difficult. I truly don’t think she would have lived long had BEAM not provided those services to her. The other woman had her refrigerator break down, and we found someone to donate a gently used one as a replacement for her food. BEAM does incredible work and often goes unnoticed."
Barnabas Center Nassau County
Website: https://barnabasnassau.org/
The Barnabas Center, Nassau County, helps low-income families with food insecurity through their food bank. They also provide free medical and dental care, as well as vision clinics for individuals who are uninsured.
FCN Anchor Lew Turner says this is another of his favorite local charities to support.
Fostering Connections
Fostering Connections provides education programs and enrichment scholarships for youth in grades Pre-K through 12 and their families impacted by foster care, adoption or trauma to give each youth and their families the opportunities, tools and resources they need to thrive in life.
FCN General Manager Tim Thomas says this is his family's charity of choice to support this year.
JASMYN
Website: https://www.jasmyn.org/
JASMYN supports the empowerment of LGBTQIA+ teens and young adults through leadership, advocacy, resources and a safe and affirming community.
FCN Producer Mindy Wadley says "This organization is important to me as the mother of a teen in the LGBTQ+ community. My heart goes out to those teens and young adults who are able to benefit from the resources that JASMYN provides."
JASMYN received a special Tegna Foundation Grant for Diversity and Inclusion earlier this year.
Alzheimer's Association, Jacksonville
Website: https://alz.org/jacksonville/
The Alzheimer's Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research. Founded in 1980 by a group of family caregivers and individuals interested in research, the Association includes our home office in Chicago, a public policy office in Washington, D.C. and a presence in communities across the country. The organization provides care and support to all those facing Alzheimer’s and other dementia.
FCN Marketing Director Kristen Joyal recommends the Alzheimer's Association as a GivingTuesday nonprofit organization to support.
Hope at Hand
Website: https://www.hopeathand.org/
It all begins with poetry. That's the mission of Hope at Hand, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization providing art and poetry sessions to vulnerable and at-risk youth populations. "Using poetry, creativity, art and therapeutic approaches, we facilitate healing and personal growth for children and adolescents," the organization's website says.
FCN Anchor Keitha Nelson says, "I’ve served on the board for a local nonprofit called Hope at Hand for several years. They reach populations too often forgotten about including the elderly, disadvantaged youth, battered women, people battling substance abuse and incarcerated youth. H@H offers programs to these populations as an outlet for their stress and pain through art and poetry."
Jacksonville Humane Society
Website: www.jaxhumane.org
According to its website, the Jacksonville Humane Society "provides care, comfort and compassion to animals in need while engaging the hearts, hands and minds of our community to bring about an end to the killing of abandoned and orphaned shelter animals."
FCN Anchor Katie Jeffries says "They save so many lives each year and provide great ways for children to connect with animals through summer camps and the Pawsitive Reading Program. They do amazing work!"
Donations made for GivingTuesday will be matched by a donor, so donations' impacts are doubled.
Feeding Northeast Florida
Website: https://www.feedingnefl.org/
Feeding Northeast Florida is the region's largest nonprofit food bank and hunger relief networking, with a mission of "improving the quality of life of Northeast Florida by addressing food insecurity, poverty and poor health by providing nutritious foods and other essential goods to those in need in collaboration with community partners."
The organization provides food to people in eight counties, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Duval, Flagler, Nassau, Putnam and St. Johns.
FCN Marketing Director Kristen Joyal says "They support more than 200 food pantries across the First Coast, they are boots on the ground and they are helping people like you and me who may be hungry for the first time in their lives as well as people who have been in need and are trying to get back on their feet again."
2023 First Coast News Tegna Foundation Grant recipients: