Throughout holiday season, many of us give because of a kindness in our hearts, and charity skyrockets as if Santa really was watching everyone’s deeds.

It might seem strange to read something about charity way past December, yet throughout the year, the homeless are still cold, the poor still hungry and the senior homes still without company. We give ourselves leeway because of that good thing we did last winter, when in reality that “good thing” was nothing except a morale boost for yourself. Your used coat won't last a man throughout the rainy season, nor will that one meal feed a poor man until next holiday season.

Christmas has already passed, so nobody will get their Christmas Miracle. But does it have to be like that?

Thousands depend on the kindness of strangers all year round. Internationally, refugees need supplies, while at home, people from different backgrounds need support.

In a time when hate, poverty and negligence are prominent throughout the world, those of us in well-to-do areas like ours need to fight the injustice being inflicted on so many people who can't fight back.

Once we open our eyes, we can see in our own country that 50,000 veterans are homeless, that 32 million American adults still cannot read, that 95 percent of those accused in the ghettos do not receive a trial and that 45 million Americans live under the poverty line.

With poverty still commonplace, everyone who is able needs to do something about it, and using something called effective altruism, we all can.

Effective altruists believe that charity needs to be made to objectively aid the most in need. If $300 could help a lower-middle class American family purchase the new Nintendo Switch, or it could be used to save a half dozen third-world people afflicted with blindness, effective altruists will choose the latter no matter how sympathetic the former’s cause may seem.

Many effective altruists also make a habit of charity by giving 10 percent of what they make per year to charitable organizations, making efficient use with their dollar. It is a practical way to make a difference without abandoning the comforts of everyday life.

There is no need to adopt asceticism to fund the college educations of a couple of middle-class Americans; according to philosopher and effective altruist activist Peter Singer, it only requires $20 to $50 to cure trachoma, a disease that is responsible for blinding 1.9 million people around the world.

The effects of our giving during Christmas season do not always last. But through effective altruism, our dollar is used to its greatest value with the right cause and direction. It creates a difference that everyone can make, and the joy of the holidays won’t be limited to December only.