If you can, give generously this season

I have had the good fortune of witnessing astounding generosity at the holiday season since I was a small child. Growing up near Memphis, Tenn., my father — and by extension, my family — was heavily involved with a yearly program called "Angel Tree."

Copying the Salvation Army model used around the country, the program helped "adopt" needy children to families and organizations around town for Christmas. I was always struck both by the disparity of their wish-lists to my own — I was looking for bicycles and they were looking for new socks — and the community's unfailing generosity.

Once we were old enough to not know most of the recipients, my siblings and I always looked forward to collection day and the following weekend's distribution. We would drive from school to school and business to business, picking up countless piles of gifts for those less fortunate. A morning's work would easily fill up a tractor trailer and each year organizing the gifts in a school gymnasium became a more cramped operation.

When the time came for parents to pick up the gifts donated for their children, their gratitude often overflowed in tears and hugs for the huge number of volunteers who showed up to help haul packages to their vehicles.

In the years since I last was able to participate in the event, it has seemed a lot less like the holidays without being a part of it.

I write all of that to encourage anyone with the means, that if ever there was a year to contribute to any worthy cause, this may be the one.

The Eagle has written about the strain on area food banks, and rest assured, it is not letting up. Recent rounds of layoffs around the Valley have put many families in suddenly uncertain situations with little time to right their ships before the holiday season. There could be many sparse tables at Thanksgiving and few presents under the tree at Christmas in our communities.

Tough economic times make giving more difficult, as even those with some measure of financial security are tightening their belts in anticipation of possible future calamity. But it is times like these when giving matters the most.

If you can't give money or merchandise, find some time to help out at the food bank or collect for Toys for Tots or get involved with any number of other worthy charities and organizations. The people we are helping are our friends and neighbors and nothing makes it feel more like the holidays than digging deep and giving what you can.

— Alex Strickland