24/Savvy Family and Charity

Every holiday season, my friends and I brainstorm ways to help those in need.  We have 14 children between the five of us, and we look for ways to teach our kids how to help others.  In the past we’ve wrapped Christmas gifts for inner-city families, as well as helped military families through the Angel Tree program.  This year we chose to Dine In and help feed families for Thanksgiving.  Dine In is an initiative of Here’s Life Inner City, an urban organization dedicated to helping the poor.  The concept is simple.  Instead of dining out, my friends and I ‘dined in’ with a delicious pot luck dinner.

Why So Savvy: According to statistics, the average meal out on the town in NYC is more than $40, an amount we're guilty of spending more often than we'd care to admit.  By foregoing that swank restaurant-prepped meal just once and serving up your own homemade goodness instead, the money saved could provide a delicious Thanksgiving meal to a family in need, courtesy of the unique "Box of Love" campaign sponsored by Here's Life Inner City.  In 2010, over 3,700 families received a "Box of Love" and this year?  Let's make it 4,000, shall we?  It's the savvy thing to do.