Businesses, charities, families, community centers, schools and individuals from around the world are coming together today to celebrate Giving Tuesday, a day dedicated to giving back. The annual movement is timed to coincide with Thanksgiving and the kickoff of the holiday season – a time when season spending hits a series of successive high notes with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday.

Here at Discovery Communications, we’re proud to support the movement and to help encourage individuals to get involved and make a difference. We’re airing the #GivingTuesday PSA air on several of our networks, and the Discovery Education team is sharing the #GivingTuesday Curriculum Guide throughout the Discovery Educator’s Network, a global professional learning community with more than one million educators. The guide is a free curriculum to help K-12 teachers integrate critical lessons about philanthropy and giving into their classroom activities.

In addition to supporting Giving Tuesday, here are some other ways our family of networks and divisions have given back in November and December:

• Animal Planet, in conjunction with its special Saving Africa’s Giants with Yao Ming, WildAid and the Clinton Global Initiative, launched the Yao Ming Ivory Free Pledge on November 18. The initiative is a commitment to driving awareness of the elephant poaching and ivory trade crisis.
• In partnership with local animal shelters and NFL players, Animal Planet created The Road To Puppy Bowl. The program, which kicked off last month and will run through the end of December, encourages pet adoptions throughout the US, with all adoption fees covered by Animal Planet.
• In partnership with local Feeding America member food banks, TLC will hold food collection drives in five cities with select network talent, starting with Chicago, IL on December 8.
• Destination America partnered with The Salvation Army to provide Thanksgiving meals to 500 New York families in need. Destination America volunteers went to The Salvation Army in East Harlem on November 19 to help provide Thanksgiving dinner supplies for families to bring home and enjoy on the iconic American holiday. Volunteers served turkeys, yams, green beans, corn muffins, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin and apple pie! With turkey mascots greeting and dancing with the families, it was a cheerful way to kick off the holiday season.
• Discovery hosted its annual Creating Change pro bono initiative, which utilizes the power of our employee workforce to fulfill marketing, design, communications, and operational work on behalf of local nonprofit organizations. This year’s 12-hour marathon, held this year on November 6 and 7, provided over 20 nonprofits with nearly 2,200 hours of professional in-kind services valued at over $250,000. Running concurrently to the marathon, the Creating Change conference reached another 100 nonprofit representatives, providing them with insights and tools to bring back to their organizations.
• In partnership with US2020, Discovery Communications and Discovery Education hosted a STEM thought leader forum and student workshop on November 17 at Boston Public School’s McCormack Middle School for over 150 sixth graders.
• In partnership with Child Welfare Services and Family Discovery Center, Discovery employees adopted nearly 170 local families on November 20 in our annual Adopt-a-Family event that pairs employees with local families in need of holiday presents and cheer for the season.

Join the movement and lend a hand! Visit www.GivingTuesday.org to learn how you can positively impact others.

To learn more about Discovery’s commitment to giving back, visit www.impact.discovery.com.