• Our healthcare workers have been working long, tiring hours.Check in on your friends and family working on the frontlines:

  • Text/call them
  • Ask them how they’re doing/ if they need anything
  • Be a listening ear
• Provide a self-care basket. Often healthcare workers are exhausted when they get home so surprising them with soothing items like bubble bath, a candle, some chocolates or a bottle of wine would be so appreciated.  
• MASK UP and encourage your friends and family to do the same and help reduce the spread of COVID-19.
• Make sure they feel loved, appreciated and energized by putting together To Go care packages filled with coffee/energy drinks, healthy snacks, lotion (their hands get super dry from constantly washing), etc., anything to brighten up their day. Add a heartwarming note and let them know how much they mean to you.
• Donate to the Direct Relief and help get protective gear and critical care medications to as many health care works as possible across the U.S. in response to COVID-19.

Confused about BIPOC even means? We've got the 411 for you because we realize a lot of times, people just don't know! We are all human, doing the best we know how to do and we are always learning.

This year has been a big and much needed awakening around the racial inequalities and systemic racism that have prevailed in our country for far too long. Here at BGTP we have been digging in, reading, watching and listening and we've learned that there is much more we can do to stand up and speak up in support of racial equality.

We realize this can be a sensitive subject and many may feel uncomfortable or even angered by the suggestion that we might be racially insensitive or benefit from white privilege. One of the articles that really opened eyes around here on the subject of white privilege is "Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person." It hits on a number of challenges to the term we have heard from people we personally know to be Good-hearted, well-meaning, intelligent people including some of our own!

What 2020 has taught us about racial equality is that while progress has definitely been made...there is much more work to be done in this area. We have a dream that the simple concept of Be Good to People can make a difference.

Below we have some ideas for Bright Friday that can help us take steps in the right direction.

• Spend time together on Bright Friday watching important filmsaround American history for Black and Native American communities. These films are powerful and we encourage you to have discussions about what everyone learned and how to become better allies for BIPOC.
• Shop black owned shops on Etsy.
• Browse Native American owned shops.
• Donate to one or all of these amazing organizations supporting our BIPOC communities:
  • NAACP Legal Defense Fund
    • The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund is America's premier legal organization fighting for racial justice
  • Black Mental Health Alliance
    • This 501(c)3 non-profit focuses on supporting the health and well-being of Black people and vulnerable communities.
  • First Nations
    • Help strengthen and build Native American lives and communities.
  • Black-Founded Nonprofits
    • The charities featured are vetted organizations pulled from the list with a 3 or 4-star Charity Navigator rating. Consider supporting one of these highly-rated nonprofits that are working across a spectrum of categories and cause areas.

We know there are so many other organizations doing Good for our BIPOC communities. Do you have a favorite organization? Please share in the comments below!

Senior isolation can have devastating effects physically, emotionally, and mentally on any given year but in 2020 when they are often isolated in senior living homes or home with no outside visitors, seeing their friends get Covid and die with no family around...it is absolutely heartbreaking.

We have some fun ideas to brighten the days of the elderly population on Bright Friday and any day!

• Call a senior center and ask if there is anyone who would like someone to read to them. It could be a special Bright Friday reading marathon or something you start on Bright Friday and continue once a day or once a week.
• Ask a senior you know which friends of theirs are alone and reach out to each to see if they would like to be phone pals. Make it a point to either call one of them a day or choose a day of the week where you call each. Here are some questions seniors never get tired of hearing to help with the conversations.
• If you’re already headed to the store for your own groceries, check in on your elderly family members or neighbors and see if there are any last minute items they need while you are out!
• Many seniors are looking for pen pals!Check in with your local senior center, or here are a couple centers that we know are currently looking:
  • Victorian Senior Care
  • Village Concepts
• Write cards, and drop off puzzles, cozy slippers, board games and simple craft projects to your local senior center.

Teachers across the world are working more than ever to bring education into our homes virtually and they deserve some extra love.

• Have your kid/s write handwritten gratitude notes to their teachers to tell them how much they appreciate them especially during these tough times. Include their favorite thing about their teacher and their favorite activity or unit and for the littles, include some artwork to really light up the teacher's face!
• Put signs in teachers' yards thanking them for all their hard work this year.
• Let your teacher/s know you'd like to treat them to dinner delivery on Bright Friday - either make a delicious homemade meal and drop it by or ask for their favorite take out, order it and drop it by or have it delivered. If they have plans because it's the holiday weekend, have the kids create a cool coupon Good for one home meal delivery on the night of the teacher's choice.
• Post on your Facebook page something about the teacher and/or your kid's school that is outstanding. Teachers, administrators, staff and schools could sure use the support this year!
• Donate directly to a specific teacher's classroom project through Donor's Choose by providing supplies to keep kids learning.

• Put together donation bags for your local homeless shelter.Gently used clothes and warm socks are especially needed this time of year. Duffle bags, suitcases, tote bags and backpacks in good condition are always helpful too.
• Write and post positive love notes around your communities and near any shelters.
• Gather clean, warm blankets and jackets that aren't being used in your home and reach out to neighbors to do the same, asking them to drop them off at your door to keep everyone safe. Take them to an area with a homeless population and hand them out to those who may need them.
• If you know how to sew, make homemade masks or if you have the financial means, purchase packages of masks and hand sanitizer. Bring them to a low-income area in a box or tub with a homemade sign, "Take one if you need one - you matter!"
• Donate to the National Low Income Housing Coalition's COVID-19 Rental Assistance program.

Kids! Your parents need some love - they're struggling with this whole online learning, remote or front line working. Show them how Good you can be!:

• • Prepare breakfast and surprise them by delivering it in bed
  • Help with chores around the house WITHOUT being asked
  • Write special notes thanking them for working hard during this crazy time or make some beautiful artwork just for them. Leave little surprise notes around the house for them to find to let them know you appreciate them.

For your friends who are parents:

• • Offer up a free night of babysitting if everyone can do it safely. For older kids, you can offer virtual babysitting where you read to the kids or play fun games online with them so their parents can enjoy a quiet meal or watch a favorite show together for an at-home date.
  • Offer to pick up dinner, groceries, or toilet paper (!) for them so they don't have to head out with a car load of kids.
  • Parents and kids are really struggling with online learning at home. Share your smarts with with an online student in need and help them keep up!
• Donate to Feeding America and provide meals to families facing hunger.

• Send Good vibes to a small business that has helped you this year.Send a note of thanks, recommend them with a great review on Yelp or Facebook (be sure to tag the business!), and let them know you appreciate them.
• Order curbside takeout or delivery DIRECTLY from a locally-owned restaurant. Ordering directly from the restaurant rather than the big meal delivery services helps the restaurant a lot as the big services charge large fees to the restaurants to be listed.
• Buy gift cards from your favorite small business shops to use for yourself later or as a gift for the holidays ( Hint hint: our BGTP Gift Cards make great gifts😉 ).
• Work for a big firm that provides business services or have awesome business skills yourself and are in Good shape financially and timewise? Why not lend your skills, connections, resources to a struggling small businesses owner?
• Shop small and independent sellers on Etsy.

• Check in on your first-responder friends and family:
  • Text/call them
  • Ask them how they’re doing/ if they need anything
  • Be a listening ear
• A BGTP FAVE: Bake and drop off cookies and a basket of Goodies to your local police / fire department. Or order pizza and have it delivered!
• Donate to The Code Green Campaign, a first responder oriented mental health advocacy and education organization.

There are a WHOLE lot of brave, kind, courageous, selfless, hardworking, fair, honest people working in law enforcement and they and their families may not be feeling all that supported these days. We acknowledge that police reform is needed. We also know that the majority of law enforcement officers work hard to do a very hard job. We appreciate the law enforcement community and support everyone working together to learn and do better to keep our communities and officers safe.

• Post on your social media about a specific incident where you observed or experienced kindness, bravery, sacrifice from law enforcement. If you haven’t had a personal experience, share a positive story from online - there are many out there.
• Have everyone in the family write cards (the kids can do artwork) expressing your support for your community law enforcement.
• Drop off gift cards for your local coffee shops, donut shops at your local police station.
• Donate to the Law Enforcement Action Partnership and contribute to practical solutions to criminal justice and drug policy issues.

• Leave Goodies out to your delivery drivers to keep them happy on the road as a THANK YOU.
• Write a kind note to your regular delivery driver thanking them for getting your packages to you safely. Just a handwritten note is a great way to show appreciation but if you have the financial means, including a gift card from your local coffee shop or lunch spot would really make their day!

• This one might cost you a few extra bucks but the power of a Good tip goes a long way, especially for those working in the service industry which has seen a dramatic decrease in clientele this year. Even if you can give 22% instead of your usual 20%, it will make a difference!
• Buy directly from the restaurant. Avoid delivery apps to make sure your money goes directly to the restaurant and waitstaff.
• Leave a stack of Be Good to People stickers or pens (or any pens for that matter!) with your server. Their pens always seem to disappear so they'll love having some extras.

The holiday season is hard enough when someone has lost a loved one. This year - when so many are unable to be with their loved ones even to say goodbye and to date we've lost over 257,000 people from COVID alone...there is a unbelievable amount of grieving going on. It's hard to even process what it's like for those who have lost beloveds under the conditions caused by the pandemic. It's more important than ever to reach out to those who are grieving. Here are some ideas for how to do that on Bright Friday. Just think if you could spend your entire day on Bright Friday

• Write to them about a favorite memory of their loved one.
• If you have photos of their loved one that they might not have seen, email it to them or better yet, print it and put it in a frame for them. You can even do it all online and have it delivered using a cool service like Keepsake. 
• If you know lots of family and friends of the deceased, you can reach out to them using a service like Tributeand create a loving video tribute for that person - for their next of kin or for all of those who loved the person to view.