With the holidays right around the corner, great times of celebration present great opportunities to give back. Here's four easy ways to make a difference in your community:

Gather your friends or colleague for a little tea and letter writing. As we celebrate the holidays, we should remember the thousands of men and women who are deployed overseas who will miss the holidays with their family. You can send them a letter thanking them through Operation Gratitude. Or you can write a letter to someone whose loved one has identified that they need some support. More Love Letters gives you the name, addresses and stories of people whose day will be brightened by hearing from you.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Clear out your closets and make someone's day. There is no doubt you have clothes, shoes, old toys and lots of other things that you haven't seen since the last time you went through your closets. Well, while they are sitting there collecting cobwebs, you're actually keeping them from someone who would appreciate them. So, clean out your closets and then request a prepaid envelope from Donate Stuff who will then distribute everything to their partner charities.

Start a Goodshop Shopfunding Campaign. We're all going to be shopping online for the holidays — so let's make that shopping count! Simply create or support a campaign (as you would on GoFundMe or other crowdfunding sites). Once you do, you and your fellow supporters can add the Goodshop deals button which does two things: 1) each time you visit an online store (like Target, Harry & David, and Orbitz), the best coupons and deals will pop up right on your screen and 2) when you purchase something at a participating store, a percentage of what you spend will be donated to your designated cause (at no cost to you!) So far, shopfunding has raised more than $12 million to feed homeless pets, clean up schools and pay for health care needs.

Get behind the wheel. Many disabled vets have trouble finding transportation to their medical appointments at local hospitals. So, take a moment to become their uber! You can sign up with DAV's Drive a Van program get them to their appointments.

How Do You Like To Give Back? Click To Share – Photo by Moriza, CC