The story below is from our November/December 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Support local nonprofits by giving time, treasure or talent to organizations that bring joy, comfort and care to the Roanoke community.
Though Thanksgiving holds the official slot on the calendar, for many professionals, it’s the days in its immediate wake that take up the most space in the brain. Indeed, though Black Friday (whose name derives not from the dark behavior encouraged by low prices on limited inventory but from the day when retail ledgers moved out of debt from red to black) has been around in name since at least 1951, today there’s a veritable cottage industry of sale days.
Cyber Monday and its elder brother, Black Friday, have marched on to overtake their parent holiday of Thanksgiving in the weeks that precede it. In 2010, to encourage community lovers to keep their money in their towns by shopping locally, American Express launched Small Business Saturday.
And finally, there’s the holiday devoted to nonprofits and charities that most closely aligns with the expressed underlying values of the holiday season – Giving Tuesday.
Roanoke is home to a host of nonprofits that rely on your support in the form of the three Ts (Treasure, Time and Talent) throughout the year. But a few have missions that particularly shine during the holiday season or hold programs designed to cater to it.
Here’s a taste of a few you might consider including when planning for your gifts and giving this year.
Last year’s Roanoker holiday issue included a deep dive on Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southwest Virginia, specifically their Christmas Store that offers free gifts for everyone staying in the home to give to their relatives.
While RMHC will continue that tradition this year, it’s only part of the festivities, which include meals for the house and anyone on the NICU floor at Carilion.
You can also visit the house yourself on the first Sunday of December for Lights of Hope to hear Santa read the Night Before Christmas, eat cookies, enjoy the tree lighting, tour the house and celebrate with firsthand experience the families RMHC keeps together.
Donor and Community Relations Coordinator Montana Kimrey says, “It’s a sweet little scene” as children from the community mingle with ones in the house. “Kids make friends, and they’re running around the house and having a blast, and it’s always one of my favorite events.”
You can also help by donating goods or sponsoring a Christmas light for the tree as a gift, in honor of or in memory of someone you love. In an ongoing theme among many charities, it’s a way to provide a meaningful gift for a loved one while also supporting something that matters to them — going beyond the traditional socks, sweaters and tchotchkes.
Interestingly, RMHC doesn’t have the only Christmas Store in the area. The Community Christmas Store does for the Roanoke community what RMHC does for the families staying there.
Courtesy of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southwest Virginia
RMHC Santa Workshop
Though the physical space opens in December, like Santa and his elves, the Community Christmas Store works throughout the year to provide citizens of Roanoke County, Salem, Vinton and Craig County with a place to receive everything they need for a Christmas they otherwise couldn’t afford.
It’s a massive logistical feat.
Year-round volunteers search for the best deals to provide each demographic with what they need, from diapers for infants to hygiene products and home décor for senior citizens. There’s a pantry section, clothes, toys for each age group, infant needs and adult and teen gifts (including beauty projects, wireless headsets, drones and more). The store provides wrapping and decorations too.
Through savvy shopping (discount, double coupons, etc.) and donations, they manage to afford it all. Bethany McAteer praises Erin Clinevell, with whom she shares co-president duties as “The Toy Lady,” who managed to get the average price of toys below $5.
You can help by donating goods or money. All gifts are new, though decorations may be gently used.
However, what CCS needs most of all is a permanent space. Their annual scramble includes finding a temporary six- to eight-thousand-square-foot retail spot where they then must deck the halls and fill them with gratis merchandise.
The Boys and Girls Clubs of Southwest Virginia is also doing its part to provide gifts for families in need.
BGCSW’s mission is to grow underserved youth in grades K-12 into “caring, productive and responsible citizens.” Across their nine Roanoke Valley locations, they do this by teaching them about leadership, healthy life and workforce development.
While it’s essential to the well-being of many kids in our area, there’s also time for fun, particularly during the holidays when every child, of every age, enrolled in their programs receives a gift.
CEO Rebekah Meadows describes “watching hundreds of kids receive gifts” and seeing their “excitement as they open it” as one of their most rewarding programs.
But grateful parents have driven the point home. Meadows remembers one emotional mother thanking her, saying, “I didn’t know how I would make the holidays work this year.”
Now is also the largest giving season for the Clubs, and any donations are appreciated.
While CCS and Boys and Girls Clubs provide joy for families who can’t afford it, the Roanoke Diversity Center is there to provide family and support for individuals who need it.
The Diversity Center provides the LGBTQ+ community a safe space, plus resources, support, education and the largest LGBTQ library in Virginia.
So many kids “don’t know there are others like them,” says Executive Director James Foutz-Vega while explaining the library.
The holidays can trigger feelings of loneliness for many without family or close friends and many members of the queer community are “not welcome in the family they were born into” for holidays. So RDC provides community and hosts two major events: Thanksgiving dinner and a December holiday party with drinks, games and prizes at BiblioPub across the street.
For those wishing to help, DVC is in need of food, baked goods and paper plates, napkins, etc. They also need a DJ, food and prizes for Christmas.
DVC needs financial support more than ever, as funding grants have largely dried up.
See their website to find out more about how to participate.
The YMCA is so much more than a gym (or novelty song). As the country’s largest childcare provider, it’s an essential piece of many communities. In fact, it was New York’s 92nd St. Y that initially coined Giving Tuesday in 2012.
YMCA of Virginia’s Blue Ridge has six locations throughout Roanoke. Each has multiple programs to support, from after-school programs to community building and education for seniors.
The end of the year is critical for fundraising and showing appreciation to their supporters.
Vice President of Development & Advocacy, Kim Thomas, says the local Y “leaders pick and choose” events they want to do “based on the needs of their community.” Branches run food drives and “open our doors” so everyone can “experience the Y and all of the good we do in the community.”
The Kirk Family and Botetourt Ys hold a Great Green Breakfast where kids can have breakfast and get pictures with the Grinch. The Rockbridge Y has cookies with Santa. All these programs are free. Check the schedule at your nearest location.
Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center
Paw Paw the possum
And while wild animals aren’t rushing downstairs to open presents on Christmas morning, the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center is still participating in the holidays.
When the Wildlife Center began in 2002, they were helping two to three hundred animals. Today, that has ballooned to 2,700. Unfortunately, they can’t currently grow “due to ongoing litigation, but once we get through that, we need the ability to expand outward,” says Chester Leonard, who began as a 10-year-old volunteer at his parents’ (founders Lucky and Sabrina Garvin) home and is now the executive director.
Every year, more people bring sick and injured animals.
This year, to support their year-end push, the Wildlife Center is offering a sponsorship for each of their twelve wildlife ambassadors.
Wildlife ambassadors play a key role in teaching the community about the natural world and building enthusiasm about the work the center does. All of these special animals are unable to return to the wild for health or other reasons.
Each ambassador its own story.
Captain Jack Sparrow-Hawk, an American kestrel, imprinted on humans when the people who found him handfed him for three weeks. When a bird imprints, it will look to humans for food thereafter.
Baldwin the squirrel has dwarfism, which makes him slower to grow and slower to move. He would be unlikely to survive on his own.
Paw Paw the possum was illegally kept as a pet during his first year of life, causing him to develop metabolic bone disease. The center improved his diet and got him out of pain.
Besides food and shelter, these furry, feathered or scaled community builders receive training five days a week so they can interact in public.
“They’re not pets. They’re still very much wild animals. They get trained based on their needs and what enriches them,” says Megan Johnson, who runs the ambassador program.
Individuals or businesses can pick out one of those animals and support its care for a year. All sponsors will be recognized on social media in a dedicated post for “their” animal.
It’s a special way to be a part of this nonprofit that does so much for the region’s animals and the people who care about them.
No matter where your personal values lie, chances are there’s a nonprofit in the region that could use your support. And even if you don’t have a lot to give, every little bit counts, and any T (Treasure, Time and Talent) will do.
The story above is from our November/December 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!