Red Gloves Projects

1. Visit a retirement center - Most cities have these facilities now, and the residents are often well enough to realize their loneliness. Call the facility and set a date. Then gather your friends and family, and ask everyone to bring a pair of red gloves. Go as dinner is just ending, and fan out through the dining room. Have each person in your group find a resident, introduce themselves, and ask a few questions. Why is Christmas special, for instance, or in all your life what year was most special to you? Ask God to teach you something in the course of the conversation. Then give your set of red gloves to that resident.
2. Go caroling - even in October! If you and your family, or you and your group of friends, can't sing well, don't let that stop you. Older people make a very forgiving audience. Simply locate a nursing home or retirement center, contact the facility, and set up a date. Then put together a few Christmas carols, wear Santa hats, and bring a box of red gloves to pass out. The hardest part will be trying to make it through "Silent Night" with twenty teary-eyed seniors soaking in every word. A note of caution: Don't bring baked goods. Most people in assisted living can't have sugar. The red gloves and your song will be gift enough.
3. Adopt an older person - Contact your local nursing home or retirement center and ask if they have a resident who doesn't receive visits very often. Maybe never. Then make it a point to visit that person at least once a week throughout the Christmas season. Bring that person a pair of red gloves, and get to know him or her. Your life just might be changed in the process.
4. Invite a lonely older person to dinner - This should be done with contacts through your church. Check if there are former members who are now residing in assisted living facilities. If they have no family in the area, offer to arrange a time when he or she can join you for dinner or a Christmas party. In the process, give that person a pair of red gloves and ask them to share their favorite story. It might be one you decide to keep in your family for decades to come.

1. Feed Someone - Save your pennies from now until December 25. The week before Christmas, purchase a pair of red gloves, wrap them, and stick a card or drawing inside. Then deliver it to the first lonely person you see, whether he or she is standing at the end of a freeway ramp, or eating dinner at your local homeless shelter. Do this with a group of people and impact an entire group of street people.
2. Take Food to a Shelter - Do extra jobs between now and the end of December. Use the money to buy food for street people. Each person involved in the project, whether it's one person or dozens, where red gloves to deliver the food. Then leave the gloves inside the bag. Right on top where everyone will see it and know that the miracle is spreading.
3. Sing Christmas Carols - Even in October - at a local homeless shelter or a retirement center. Arrange for the caroling to take place during mealtime. Wear red gloves during the performance. When the singing is over, you and your group walk around and give away your red gloves to those in attendance.
4. Collect Toys and Food - Organize your church, school, or office, to have a Red Gloves Drive. Collect toys and food for needy families in your area. Have everyone in the group where a pair of red gloves to deliver the gifts. Then leave the gloves with the people who need them more.

Adopt an Orphan through Financial Support - Adopt a child through WorldVision or another international organization you feel is trustworthy. For usually pennies a day, you can make a difference in the life of at least one child and be to that little boy or girl a Christmas miracle every day of the year. Once you've chosen your child, send him or her a pair of red gloves. Then cut out the child's picture and attach it to a red glove, which can hang in your home all year long.

Help a Lonely Child in Your Area - Contact your local branch of Social Services and find out how many children in your area are awaiting families. Make a list of the names of those children and commit along with your friends or family to pray for each of them. Buy gifts for these children, along with several pairs of red gloves, and take the wrapped presents to the local Social Services office. Ask that they be delivered to the children waiting for families. October is not too soon for this.

Big Brother & Big Sister - If you're single and able to be more involved, check if your area has an organization that pairs lonely children with willing adults. Make a year-long commitment to a child and make your first gift to him or her a pair of red gloves with an explanation that red is the color of giving.

Help a Needy Family - Talk to your local public elementary school or contact your church leaders and locate a needy family in your area. Purchase presents for the family and deliver them while wearing red gloves. Adorn the packages with red gloves for each of the children in the family.