Reclaiming The Season: The Power of Giving Tuesday
I hate Black Friday.
Every year, the days after Thanksgiving unfold the same way: ads shouting from every corner, inboxes overflowing with “deals,” and a cultural pressure to buy, upgrade, consume. Black Friday has become a holiday of its own, centered not on gratitude, but on grabbing as much as we can before someone else does.
But something remarkable has happened in the last decade. A counter-movement has grown.
It’s a movement of people who are tired of being told that their value lies in what they purchase.
Tired of watching corporations turn a season of thanks into a season of consumerism.
Tired of seeing families fall deeper into debt just to keep up with expectations created by someone else.
This movement’s name is Giving Tuesday.
The Counter-Story to Black Friday
Where Black Friday tells us to compete, Giving Tuesday asks us to connect.
Where Black Friday encourages impulse buying, Giving Tuesday offers intention: give because you believe in something better.
Where Black Friday focuses on consumerism, Giving Tuesday centers community, humanity, and hope.
It’s a cultural pivot point. A reminder that generosity, not consumption, is what makes the world feel whole.
As economic pressures rise and families feel the squeeze of inflation, housing costs, and shrinking paychecks, the contrast between these two days grows even more striking. Black Friday reinforces a belief that happiness lives in the next new thing. Giving Tuesday reminds us that meaning grows when we invest in each other.
Giving Tuesday grew from a deep cultural hunger for something more grounding, more relational, more aligned with the gratitude many of us feel this time of year.
I like to hope that as a society, we’re realizing that we don’t actually need more stuff.
But we do need:
A sense of belonging
A feeling of purpose
A connection to the people around us
A belief that our actions can actually help someone else
Giving Tuesday reminds us where our power lies.
Corporations have mastered the art of turning our attention, emotions, and even our stress into profit. Black Friday is engineered to spark fear of missing out, to tap into our insecurities, to blur the line between want and need. It gives all of our power to the corporations.
Giving Tuesday has a different goal and a different energy.
When you give—whether to a local nonprofit, a mutual aid effort, a neighbor, or a cause you care about—you’re reclaiming your agency.
Giving is one of the few acts that corporations can’t co-opt or commodify. It is a direct investment in the world you want to live in, not the world someone else is trying to sell you.
The Beauty of a People-Centered Season
At its heart, Giving Tuesday is about returning to our roots. Humans have always survived (and thrived) through community care. Sharing food. Caring for the vulnerable. Making sure everyone has enough.
Here in Clallam County, we see what a people-centered community looks like. Neighbors helping neighbors. Volunteers giving their time without expecting anything back. Donors stepping up for families they may never meet.
A New Tradition Worth Growing
As much as I wish it would disappear, Black Friday isn’t going anywhere, but neither is Giving Tuesday. And each year, more people choose to give instead of buy.
More people choose connection over consumption.
Whether your middle finger to Black Friday is shopping local, making handmade gifts, or donating to your favorite nonprofit, you’re making a difference.
Giving Tuesday isn’t just a fundraising day. It’s a cultural shift, a reclaiming of the holiday season for what truly matters.
Today, you can help rewrite the story of the holiday season. With a Giving Tuesday gift to the Port Angeles Food Bank, you support families right here in Clallam County who are working hard to make ends meet. You help fill pantries, strengthen our community, and push back against a culture that tells us we’re defined by what we buy.
Let’s show the power of people taking care of people.
Donate today and help us build a community where everyone has the food they need, especially during the holidays.
Donate HERE.