Red Mill Burgers celebrated its 15th anniversary on Phinney Ridge last month by donating 15 percent of its proceeds over 15 days to three neighborhood non-profits.

Here’s owner John Shepherd and two employees handing $1,000 checks to (left to right) Patty Leach from the Greenwood Food Bank, Cecily Kaplan from the Greenwood Senior Center and Lee Harper from the Phinney Neighborhood Association.

As always, you can help out those less fortunate in a number of ways this holiday season. Here are a few:

The Phinney Neighborhood Center hosts its annual Giving Tree for kids in need. Pick up a tag with a child’s age and gift request, then return the wrapped present by Dec. 13.

The Greenwood Senior Center at 525 N. 85th St. will have a Giving Tree set up by the end of this week. It will have gift requests from the Dorothy Day House, a housing program for formerly homeless women.

Greenwood Hardware (a PhinneyWood sponsor) at 7201 Greenwood Ave. N. has its own Giving Tree just as you walk in the front door.

PlayMatters at 7720 is sponsoring visits by the Binky Fairy with a donation to Toys for Tots. The Binky Fairy flies into PlayMatters from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month. Your child can put their binky in a special box, then choose a new big kid toy from a treasure box. After making your donation to Toys for Tots, your child can stay and play for half off the regular price.

National Drycleaners at 8757 Holman Road is teaming up with the Ballard Food Bank for their 2009 Holiday Food Drive. The shop is now collecting any shelf stable, non-perishable food items, as well as any hygiene items (shampoo, deodorant, etc.). Drop off donations in the National Drycleaners barrels during normal business hours: Mon.-Fri., 7 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sat., 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; and Sun., 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

We’re sure there are numerous other businesses around the neighborhood with Giving Trees or other ways to help, so if we’ve missed something, please put a note in comments.

A group of local retailers are setting up a gently used shoe collection drive for Soles4Souls, a non-profit that provides footwear to people in need in more than 125 countries.

During the month of December, you can drop off those shoes you’re not wearing at selected businesses, knowing that a victim of a natural disaster, or a person living in extreme poverty, will put them to good use.

As a special incentive on Dec. 12, all participating locations will provide a 20% discount off a new pair of shoes upon donation.

Locally, you can donate shoes at these locations:

Phinney Ridge
The Sneakery, 612 NW 65th St.

Ballard
re-soul, 5319 Ballard Ave.

Fremont
evo, 122 NW 36th St.
Shoes ‘n Feet, 3409 Stone Way North, Suite 102

Other participating Seattle-area stores are GEMS Sneakershop, ian, RPS-Rock Paper Scissors, Sole Food, Upper Playground, and Zebra Club.

For more information and other locations and donation options, see souls4seattle.com and the national organization at giveshoes.org.

Eco Encore is raising funds for environmental organizations in the Pacific Northwest by collecting books, CDs, DVDs and recent software, then reselling it online. The organization hopes to cut down on waste and promote the idea of reuse to conserve resources.

For their November Community Book Drive, Eco Encore hopes to gather one ton of books by Nov. 30. The organization sells the items through their online store at amazon.com, then distributes the profits to 15 partner organizations, including the Nature Consortium and Washington Trails Association.

In our neighborhood, you can drop off donations at Avanti Art & Design at 7317 Greenwood Ave. N. Here’s a list of all drop-off locations in the region. Be sure and check out this list of items they can and can’t accept.

The PNA Soup Kitchen is providing its special Thanksgiving meal on Wed., Nov. 25. The Soup Kitchen needs donations of cooked, sliced turkeys, juice or sparkling cider and store-bought or homemade pies.

They also need donations of ham, pies and juice for the Dec. 23 Christmas meal.

If you can donate, please call (206) 783-2244 to let them know how you can contribute and to arrange delivery, either to the Phinney Neighborhood Center or St. John United Lutheran Church on the morning of the meal.

The 70-member Phinney Community Chorus performed a concert of world music to an overflow crowd Sunday night at the United Methodist Church, raising more than $8,500 to support a school in Haiti, member Mike Veitenhans tells us:

The concert, an annual June event, celebrated the ten-year anniversary of the chorus and raised money for Lekol Pa Nou (Our School), a primary school in the remote village of Pichon, Haiti. The chorus began supporting the school through the non-profit organization Education for Prosperity Program six years ago. “The Phinney Neighborhood Association helped us get started and continue to be supportive,” explains chorus director Maggie McClellan, “and now we are making an effort to reach out and support others who need a hand. Thanks to the caring and generosity of our community, we raised $7,000 for the school last year and over $8,500 this year!” If you missed Sunday’s concert, you can hear the chorus perform at the Phinney Neighborhood Center’s “purchase party” June 28.

For more information about the chorus, click here.