Did you know you can sell all or a portion of a life insurance policy, even term insurance?
(3 Minute Read)
Around the holidays, many of us want to give back to our communities in addition to giving gifts. Volunteering and contributing can take many forms, some right in our own home. If you’re looking for some opportunities to give back this season or any time of year, here’s a list of different ways you can help underserved groups and people in need near you.
Sponsor a Family
One of the most immediate and direct ways to give charity is by sponsoring a family or child for the holidays. This means buying them food, Christmas gifts, and maybe even having them over for dinner. The structure and obligations of sponsoring a family will depend on the charity you work through to find them and get connected.
Many of the charities that help these families are religious nonprofits like your local chapters of Catholic Charities USA or Lutheran Services in America, and websites like compassion.com. On the secular side, websites like family-to-family.org or volunteermatch.org are good resources.
Volunteer for Veterans
Volunteering to support our nation’s veterans often takes the form of volunteering at hospitals or driving a veteran to and from appointments. Or, maybe helping with yard work or a home repair. Whatever your skills and talents, you may be able to put them to good use depending on the service members who have unique needs near you.
The DAV is an organization established by Congress to help veterans and their families take advantage of earned benefits and connect with support in their local area. Their website has an easy-to-use search tool to find opportunities to volunteer for veterans.
Take Action for Animals
Volunteering to help animals is another great way to spend time during the holidays, especially with grandkids who love animals. Animal shelters always need people to walk dogs and play with cats. The better-socialized these pets are, the more likely they are to get adopted. Contacting the shelters and sanctuaries near you to ask about their volunteer needs is the most direct way to get started.
The Humane Society of the United States also has a portal on their website to connect with their shelters, and with the animal rescue team. Animal rescue volunteers help recover animals from situations of abuse or poor conditions. The Humane Society also lists opportunities for veterinarians and vet techs to volunteer their services on a local level.
Help the Homeless
When thinking of helping the homeless, many people visualize soup kitchens and handing out coats. These opportunities almost certainly exist near you, and can usually be found through sites like VolunteerMatch. However, because these opportunities come to everyone’s mind during the holidays, they can actually be hard to find during the winter, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless.
That’s why they call on volunteers to think creatively about services to help the homeless person out of the difficult time in their life. Professional tasks like accounting and web development can play a huge role in helping someone transition out of homelessness. For retirees and seniors, these are also opportunities to keep using talents, and maybe even teach them to others.
Gather Supplies and Share Resources
Another charity event we all associate with the holidays are food drives and gift drives. It’s usually as simple as turning on your evening news to hear about a winter coat drive, canned food drive, Christmas toy drive, or other charity collection going on for the holidays. If you want to get involved beyond simply dropping off your donation, websites like feedingamerica.org can help you find a food bank to help shelve goods or hand out food. Otherwise, contact the local organizers of the initiative to learn more.
Volunteering during the holidays is a great way to capture the feeling of the season, but all these charities face need year-round. Outside your time and attention, they do also need financial support to continue their work. Those contributions are even tax-deductible from your yearly taxes, or your estate via planned giving. Exchanging the responsibility of an unwanted life insurance policy to get a lump sum of cash can extend your support of these causes even further.
Did you know you can sell all or a portion of a life insurance policy, even term insurance? Selling an unwanted life insurance policy is no different than selling your car, home or any other valuable asset that will create immediate cash. Contact us today to learn more.
Leo LaGrotte
Life Settlement Advisors
llagrotte@lsa-llc.com
1-888-849-0887
