I feature an interesting website, blog, Twitter feed, Facebook page or other online destination related to Waterloo Region on CKWR with Randolph J. Johnston called #WRawesome Online, Mondays at about 12:30. Here is the Midday with RJ’s Facebook page.

I hope by doing so that I’ll help people find places online that help them to connect to their community-online and in the real world. By doing so, I hope to help people find online places that they might not find otherwise and make our community a better place to live.

For folks looking for communications advice, you can get tips from each selection featured. I’ll highlight at least one example in my weekly post.

Website: Stuffin Stockings

There are lots of ways at this time of year to help others who struggle to meet day to day needs to celebrate the holidays. A favourite of mine is the Books for Kids program. This week I’d like to highlight a new option for you to consider.

In my childhood, having a stocking mysteriously appear under my bed was an important part of the magic of Christmas morning. It’s a tradition that we carried on long after we blindly believed in the magic. Unwrapping a series of small gifts was a very special time. Today, I have children of my own who are true believers and the stocking tradition is an important part of our celebrations.

Last year, Carolyn Parks of St. Jacobs couldn’t imagine a Christmas without stockings either and so she made a couple up and looked for an agency that could match them with children whose families could not afford this luxury. She received many more requests and so she looked to her friends to help meet the need. Her small gesture that started as a random act of kindness snowballed and by mid-December, with the help of others, she had collected 250 stockings to brighten a child’s Christmas.

Based on their success and the strength of the team that organically developed, a charity was born. Last year’s grassroots effort has blossomed into Stuffin Stockings and hopes to meet requests for more than 1,000 stockings.

If you are interested in sharing the spirit of giving with others in Waterloo Region by giving a stocking, the Stuffin Stockings website helps you select a charity that seeks stocking and give you suggestions on what to include (please don’t wrap!). If you prefer, you can make a stocking that will be assigned to a charity with children that could use it.

All stockings are required by December 15 so that they can be distributed in time. There are several drop-off locations and a special drop-off event on December 10.

What we can learn

From a communications aspect, I like the message that this website sends that an idea by one person can spark a new charity that touches hundreds of lives. It shows the power of word of mouth and media coverage. It shows that if you have a message that connects with people that they help you spread it and fulfill it. Long before “going viral” became associated with social media or online communications, ideas could go viral just because they are great ideas that resonate with who we are as people. Although I’m highlighting a website, it’s really the idea and how warmly it has been embraced that is being featured.

Stuffin Stocking is a great of example of what I call: Genuine. Organic. Change.