‘Tis the season for gift giving. Ah yes, the rush of the maddening crowd. The shops are never quite this busy, the streets and sidewalks never so crowded.
Jump away from the maddening crowd for a moment and consider this. We all walk past the Salvation Army and put money into their red kettles. We all write checks for charities, probably a little more around this time of year.
Those are all simply wonderful things. But this season I would like you to consider something else. There are millions of people going hungry in this great nation of ours. There are babies, children and adults suffering from hunger. Why not get together with your friends or even better, with your children and make baskets of food and look around for families who really need it? Why not purchase some supermarket gift cards? Look around your own town, ask the pediatricians or religious organizations; there are so many hungry children, apparently they are not so hard to find. Think about your own town, are there single parents with young children? Maybe you can offer some free babysitting as a gift. Is there a widow or a widower? Maybe they could simply use your company.
I suppose what I am suggesting is take your gift list and add just a few names to it. It is amazing, once you start looking around for people truly in need, they are not so hard to find. Know a co-worker or family member in need but don’t quite know how to give them the supermarket gift card? There is always a way, why not just tell them they were given to you and that supermarket is simply out of the way. Their family might eat a little better because of you. How glorious that would be?! Oh, one more thing, if you can afford to; why not buy a bunch of turkeys and deliver them to families in need?
Gifts of toys, clothes or money are all fantastic however, sometimes that is hard for us. You might feel as if you can’t do very much yourself this holiday season which is why I am suggesting baskets of food or supermarket gift cards. It is wonderful when people can write large checks to important charities, but you my friend might personally be feeding a hungry child. When you realize the magnitude of the hunger problem in this incredible nation of ours, feeding just one of those children, or one family will be the best gift you can give this season.
