Making a Global Difference - From Your Computer!

These organizations offer ideas for hands-on projects or interactive financial donations.

By Eliana Osborn

Photo: Lori Adamski Peek/Getty Images

To Help A Child:

Samaritan's Purse: Under "Operation Christmas Child," you can fill a shoebox with gifts, send it in with a $7 processing fee, and track it as it travels to its destination.

Rising Star Orphanage: Identify and sponsor a child at this home and school for children in India whose parents are affected by leprosy. For as little as $30 a month, your family can literally change a life.

To Help The Planet:

Arbor Day Foundation: Trees not only beautify neighborhoods, they also improve air quality and invite wildlife. You can find planting opportunities with a local Arbor Day Foundation partner.

World Wildlife Fund: Love pandas? Crazy about crocodiles? Your family can symbolically adopt an animal. Your donation of $50 or more helps protect the species you choose, and you receive a toy and certificate to honor your good deed.

To Help a Family:

Family-to-Family: Gather birthday party supplies, collect seed packets, or pack a box of groceries and mail to a family in need.

Heifer International: Financial gifts that help families worldwide become more economically stable‚ 20 buys a flock of ducks in China, for example; $30 buys honeybees in Ecuador. Bonus: Games that teach kids about hunger and the environment are available on the website.

Eliana Osborn lives in the desert southwest with her husband and young sons. She writes about family and health and enjoys her time in the sunshine.

More on Making a Difference: It's a Great Big World: Welcoming People & Cultures from Around the Globe