This year I decided to put an herb garden in for my blind friend. I just finished that yesterday. One of her care givers had decided to get the patio ready for entertaining this summer. So I told her I'd add some herbs to the garden.
For years now, I've planted on a friend's late husband's grave. She hasn't been able to do it, so she buys the flowering plants, and hubby and I go out with her and plant dear George a little garden around his headstone. I've never met George (a Lutheran minister), but feel I know him.
I try to bring food to any family I know when one is hospitalized. I read to the aforementioned blind friend twice a week. I have a friend who loves to cook, especially to make soup, and her only child just flew the nest. She continues to make home-made soups, and brings them to our Friday hang-out to give to our shut-in friends. When I cook "large" meals (you know what I mean, those things like spaghetti sauce and chili and soups and stews), I always package some of the extra and bring it to our shut-in friends. A few minutes in the nukulator and they have a home-cooked dinner.
My mother had always had a thing about dolls. When I lived nearby for a few years, she learned of my "bring something for the food bank" Christmas party. She started collecting dolls from yard sales. She'd wash them, dress them, take care of their hair (even if it meant buying new hair for them). When we dropped off the food bank stuff, she'd arranged for someone to pick up the dolls. One time Mom found two dolls that looked alike and were of a certain ethnic look. She dressed them identically and put them out as twins. The charity that collected them actually found a pair of twin girls of the same background as the dolls' appearance!
I'm not trying to toot my own horn, just putting ideas out there for those of you don't know where to start, and believe me, a lot of times people don't know where to start; it is easier to just write a check. There is nothing wrong about donating money to charities, just, as others have said, sometimes you need to look around. Making a little more stew, chili, soup, beans, etc, and bringing it to someone for whom cooking is too much can mean a lot. If you throw a big party every year, make it a collection spot for your local food bank. There are thousands of little ways to make your little corner of the world a better place.