In the United States, Thanksgiving has emerged as the start of the holiday shopping season, and in the minds of many, a time of excess commercialism and consumerism.  On the Friday following Thanksgiving stores offer crowd-raising sales, and in recent years, “Cyber Monday” has become the day for retailers to draw in online buyers.

In creative response to all the buying, the 92^nd Street Y in New York and the United Nations Foundation launched Giving Tuesday in 2012, saying, “We have a day for giving thanks, we have two for getting deals, now we have #GivingTuesday, a global day dedicated to giving back.”  The day is an opportunity to focus the generosity of the season toward those beyond immediate family, to give concretely for the benefit of our wider communities.

Hartford Seminary embraces this spirit and the positive momentum growing around #GivingTuesday, and encourages your participation on Dec. 2  by donating to support the Seminary’s students and programs.  The easiest way to be part of #GivingTuesday is to use your mobile phone to text HARTSEM to 20222, and $10 will be added to your cell phone bill.  There are other ways to give (http://oldhartsem.hartfordinternational.edu/donate/ways-to-give/) or you can call 860.509.9520 to reach a real person who will be happy to help.   Your gift will help students, enhance our public outreach, and bring new friends into the peacemaking dialogue we are all about.

Giving is what we will do in this season; #GivingTuesday is our opportunity to start it off with our hearts centered and generous.