One Less To Help One More: 'One Less Night Of Lights' Challenge

TINLEY PARK, IL — The non-profit organization One Less To Help One More is asking community members to get involved in their December challenge by turning off their holiday lights on Dec. 10, and donating the money saved to Together We Cope.

One Less To help One More is a non-profit created by a handful of Andrew High School teachers over the summer of 2020. The organization's goal is to have monthly projects to give back to the community and schools in need.

Since the start up began, the organization had held events including creating back-to-school supply kits for students and donating to the Crisis Center of South Suburbia. Each donation comes after participants save a few dollars by not engaging in regulatory acts, such as purchasing a Halloween costume or cutting back on holiday purchases.

In November, the organization connected with Andrew High School staff and students to write letters to senior citizens at Smith Crossing in Orland Park and Palos Heights Rehabilitation Center in Crestwood. The participants wrote over 150 letters to seniors at the two facilities, and Andrew students received community service hours for their efforts.

"Turning off the lights in December could be named 'the spark' for One Less to Help One More. I love to see holiday lights as much, if not more, than anyone else," Carrie King, part creator of the organization told Patch.

"Two or so years ago, I noticed that a nearby town had purchased new streetlight holiday decorations. I wondered to myself, 'do other towns have the funds to purchase those decorations? What if towns that are financially sound purchased only half of these decorations and only decorated half of the streetlights?'" King said. "These savings could be used to help other communities and the people who live in them."

King said the holiday season is a time to give back to those in need. She credits the overall concept of One Less To Help One More as a way to do so.

"In my life, holiday season always brings me to thinking of the abundance in my life and the need to share what I have with others who don't have what I am fortunate enough to have," King said. "The concept of One Less To Help One More and bringing it forward to the place it is in now sprang from this idea at a meeting the One Less family had back in June."

To learn more about the challenge, visit the One Less To Help One More Facebook page.