Giving Tuesday: 5 Lacey Nonprofits That Could Use Your Help

LACEY, NJ — There’s no single way to show generosity on Giving Tuesday, which falls on Tuesday, Dec. 2, this year, but several nonprofits in Lacey are counting on end-of-the-year donations and support.

Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday all focus on consumerism, while the idea behind GivingTuesday is to galvanize fundraising, rally volunteers and add momentum to their causes.

Since 2012, nonprofits, community and grassroots groups, and mutual aid networks worldwide have used the #GivingTuesday hashtag to encourage fundraising, rally volunteers and add momentum to their causes, according to the nonprofit of the same name behind the movement.

Local nonprofits remain heavily dependent on donor support. Charitable contributions increased 2.9 percent from June 2024 to June 2025, according to the Fundraising Effectiveness Report analysis.

Notably, although total dollars raised have increased, year-to-date performance among supersize donors has been softer than in 2024, making small contributions more important than ever.

In the United States, Giving Tuesday is led by hundreds of communities, networks and coalitions.

Here are five nonprofits in Lacey that depend on community support (donations should be made directly to each of the nonprofits below):

• Lacey Food Bank: Their mission is "no one in Lacey shall go to bed hungry," and they keep to that by distributing thousands of pounds of foods to residents. Any resident in need is able to come here.
• Meals on Wheels of Ocean County: Meals on Wheels delivers hundreds of meals daily to homebound seniors throughout Ocean County, providing not only nutrition but connection for people who are not able to get out often. Meals on Wheels drivers spend time with those receiving meals, providing wellness and safety checks.
• Rolling Thunder Inc. New Jersey Chapter 2: This charity raises awareness to POW/MIA issues as well as supporting local veterans in need.
• Southern Ocean Habitat for Humanity: The local chapter builds homes in Ocean County, helping low- and moderate-income homeowners make repairs to their homes through the hand-up, not hand-out model in which homeowners invest both sweat equity and affordable payments to get the work completed.
• The Rotary Club of Forked River: This group completes projects and provides services to the community through raising funds, supplying donations and more, especially through things like their Elf Program.

The Giving Tuesday movement encourages “radical generosity,” the concept that the suffering of others should be as intolerable to us as our own suffering, according to the movement’s website.

Giving Tuesday was created in New York City in 2012 with a simple goal: to encourage people to do good. Over the past nine years, the idea has grown into the global movement it is today.

Last year, Giving Tuesday participants raised a record-breaking $3.6 billion from 36.1 million participants, bringing the total raised on the day since 2012 to $18.5 billion.