I remember one particularly difficult holiday season when my ex and I had both lost our jobs and found out that we would have to move from the place we were renting. This would have been hard enough to handle, but the fact that we had 4 children and that the holidays were approaching made the situation even more desperate.

That year, the Salvation Army helped us out financially and they also bought the kids Christmas gifts. I felt very humbled by the whole thing, and yet so very grateful too.

This year, when we were shopping, I saw the familiar red kettle at our local Walmart. The Salvation Army worker standing at the kettle was singing his own jazzed up version of the Christmas carols and ringing the bell loudly. My son stopped and clapped and danced alongside the kettle for a while! I gave him some change to put in the kettle and he was so thrilled! The man stopped his singing and said, ?God bless you child. Have a most wonderful Christmas.? Then he went back to singing and ringing his bell, and we continued on to the store.

I was surprised to learn that the Salvation Army is also using other methods to boost donations. In Atlanta, GA and Columbus, OH, donors can use cell phones to text $5 to the Salvation Army. Text the letters TSA to 90999 in Atlanta; in Columbus, text KETTLE to 90999.

The Online Red Kettle program allows anyone to set up a virtual kettle on their website and gather donations from friend, family, and website visitors. Facebook members can add widgets to their pages to solicit donations too. You can also follow the Red Kettle Campaign progress on Twitter. Of course, you can always go old school and donate in person like we did.

In 2007, the Salvation Army helped 29 million people in the United States alone with over $118 million it received from the Red Kettle Campaign. This year, requests for help have increased and officials are hoping to be able to help as many people as possible.

Do you think using social networking like Twitter and Facebook is a good way to increase donations? Would you donate via these methods? Have you every donated to a cause via texting?

New parents, if there is one thing I can tell you that I wish I would have known when I had a newborn in my arms it is this: People want to help you. Anyone who has ever had a baby knows how incredibly confusing, exhausting, and stressful it can be. Nobody expects you to be a perfect parent the second your baby is born. If you’re anything like me you’ll spend a lot of time fumbling around, trying to figure out how to take care of a new baby without losing your mind.

The thing I didn’t realize is that most new parents – particularly new moms who are staying home from work for the first time and experiencing a HUGE life change while also dealing with hormones from labor and delivery – is that the vast majority of new parents struggle quite a bit. Everyone gets tired during this confusing time, but it’s important to realize that everyone gets overwhelmed at some point too when dealing with a new baby. I have some friends who didn’t get nearly as overwhelmed as I did, but all of them admit that at some point they could have really used some help but didn’t ask anyone.

Why are we afraid to ask for help? I think we want to seem like we’re good parents, and for one reason or another many of us think that translates into not needing help from anyone. I also had a problem with trusting anyone with my baby because I was convinced that nobody could care for her like I could. If you don’t believe me, then ask my husband about the horrible sobbing fit I had when the nurses took my baby for two hours so I could get some sleep. True story.

Don’t think that anyone will assume you’re an inept parent if you ask for help. I wish I would have taken more people up on their offers of help back when my first baby was born. When people asked what they could do to help, I should have said “please bring dinner over one night” or “please come watch the baby so I can get a long shower.” Instead I said the same thing that was my knee-jerk reaction: “Thanks for the offer but we don’t need any help right now.” I didn’t want anyone to think that I needed help. I wanted to be Supermom.

It’s no shock that I wasn’t Supermom. I was tired and overwhelmed.

When your baby is born you should be prepared to field plenty of offers of help from people. Practice saying this over and over again, “Yes, please!”