A special gift: There’s still time to help make a child’s Christmas

It isn’t easy to think about someone else when you have 17 items left to track down to complete your Christmas list and a whole slew of other holiday chores to accomplish before the big day.

And everywhere you go it seems that someone has a clock or calendar counting down the days until Christmas — and that number is getting kind of low.

Add to that a few dozen Christmas pageants, parties and travel arrangements, and you have the makings of a humbug.

So, it is not all that surprising that many of us forget about the families in our community for whom Christmas will not be about church, presents and family.

For some of them, there will be no big holiday meal and stretching out in the living room after opening a treasure trove of gifts from Santa Claus.

There won’t be anything under their trees and the big meal of the day will be whatever they can find in their meager cupboards.

Every year, the News-Argus asks Wayne County residents to dig deep into their pockets and to help make Christmas more than just another day for hundreds of needy children.

This year, we have 660 on the guest list for the annual party that allows them not only to pick out a new toy, but to take home some new clothes and a stocking full of fruit and goodies, too.

If you could be there, you would see just how much something so simple can mean to a child who was not expecting to see anything under his or her holiday tree. For that moment, they really do believe in Santa Claus.

Every time we have asked you to help, you have been there. Without your generous donations, this party would not be possible.

And this year is no exception.

There are already many of you who have gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide donations to help provide Christmas for these children. And to all of you, we say thank you. We promise you your money will be put to very good use.

But for those of you who still have not been able to find the time to write a check, we still need help to make sure we have every child covered.

Think about writing a check as part of someone’s Christmas gift — a chance to remind someone just how special you think they are. We will be happy to acknowledge your gift in the newspaper, just make a note on your check. That will be one gift checked off your list.

Thank you in advance for helping us share the spirit of the season.

Published in Editorials on December 14, 2006 11:05 AM