There are lots of good organizations to give to at any time of the year. The holiday season however inspires greater consideration for those that do not have as much as some of us. Whether it is your time, energy, food or cash donation there are many worthy causes. A couple things to consider:

• Do you give to anyone who asks or do you have an organization that you support for a particular reason?
• Do you predetermine how much you will donate?
• Do you ask how much of your contribution goes directly to the recipients in need?

We donate to the Vancouver Food Bank each year because we know how much they can do with our dollars in terms of tripling the purchase power through their connections and we recognize that there are many people within our community (especially young children) who rely on this resource. Their administrative costs are low and they are innovative in how they source and deploy the food, maximizing the dollars they have and making them stretch as far as possible.

The news last night featured some statistics on the generosity of Canadians…keep it up!