With Christmas and the opening of gifts less than a week away, I am still working on teaching my children to focus on those less fortunate and develop their Spirit of Giving. Over the last month or more we've worked on handmade gifts for our family and friends, we've also tried to spread the message about non-profits across the country who do so much good in their communities, and even donated some of our earnings to a few of them. Today I want to talk about how you can help your local community.
I know that during the holidays, there are usually lots of fabulous deals on major appliances. Perhaps you are planning on buying one for yourself or maybe for los abuelos? Or maybe, as the end of the year approaches, you are already thinking about making some tax-deductible donations to help you when tax time rolls around in a few months. Or maybe you just want to help teach your children about the spirit of giving to those who have less.
If so, I want to encourage you to think about donating a new or gently used appliance to your local chuches, food pantries, and community centers who serve at-risk families.
I'm so thankful that this year, Best Buy and Frigidaire made it possible for me to donate a new Frigidaire Gallery 30" Induction Range to our local church. The church is located in a low-income neighborhood and during the spring and summer months feeds some of the poor and homeless in the community. It's been bothering me so much that the equipment in their kitchen is badly outdated. I'm not sure what type of oven they had, but it was badly rusted. It had a double oven (one on top and one on bottom) and the bottom one didn't even work, neither did one of the stovetop elements and one of the knobs didn't even match the stove! I don't know how they managed to cook on that thing.
Anyway, we asked them if they would accept the donation of a stove and they readily agreed. The new Induction Range was a big deal for everyone! The new technology took a bit of figuring out, but it is so efficient now and makes cooking meals easy. The biggest difference is the induction range, which transfers heat directly to the cookware leaving the cooktop cooler to the touch so your spills don't burn and stick!
The only thing is, though, that not all pots and pans work on the stove. Since the heat is transferred magnetically, you have to use stainless steel pots (Note: not all stainless steel works!). But we got this 10-piece set of reasonably priced cookware which works beautifully. (Psst! Lots of department stores have this on sale during the holidays!)
Anyway, the induction range comes with five cooktop elements, including a food warmer, so if your bread/soup/vegetables are finished before the roast, you can still keep them warm. There are various settings, but one of the best features is the power boost that allows you to boil water in under 2 minutes! (Champurrado, anyone?)
And the oven! It's fantastic. You can choose from a normal baking setting or the convection oven, which circulates the air prefectly around your food, cooking it faster and more evenly. It also comes with a delay-bake, which allows you to program the time to start baking at a certain time in case you want it to start warming up while you are driving home from work/school/shopping or are otherwise busy.
It also comes with an Effortless™ Temperature Probe that allows you to set the desired finished temperature and alerts you when that temperature has been reached. The oven then holds the desired temperature of the meat by switching to a keep warm function for better cooking results. How crazy wonderful is that?
All of these features make it easy to create large meals when feeding a lot of people.
Here's a video to show you exactly what I've been trying to describe:
The church members were so thrilled with the new stove and we immediately tried it out with a few dishes... which came out beautifully, I might add.
I was so happy that my daughter had the opportunity to experience this moment of giving so that she could learn how important it is to give selflessly to others and help make a difference in someone's life. And I hope it made her realize that it's important to think about purchasing big-ticket items for others (not just ourselves), such as non-profits, churches, cultural centers, and other organizations who play a vital role in a community.
Now we just need to get them a new refrigerator!
May your holidays be filled with loving and giving.
Disclosure: I am a Best Buy Brand Ambassador and was compensated for this post. However, all thoughts and opinions listed above are stictly my own.