Volunteering strengthens the community
Jason Johnston, Reporter
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Christmas is a time of giving. Community citizens should go out and volunteer. Remember, there could be less fortunate people than you.
Help local organizations like S.O.S and the Salvation Army give needy children and families a chance to receive Christmas gifts and spend the Holidays with a smile on their faces.
It only takes one kind heart to change the lives of many.
About 62.8 million people volunteered at least once between September 2009 and September 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most current numbers. People the most likely to volunteer were 35 to 44 years old at 32.2 percent. People in their early 20s were the least likely to volunteer at 18.4 percent. We must teach children how to volunteer and treat people with respect from a young age.
They are our future.
Children can also personally gain volunteer experience through their family, their friends, their school, their place of worship and their neighborhood.
The community becomes stronger when more people volunteer.
Jason Johnston, Reporter
Observer (anonymous) says...
Emotions are magnified a hundred-fold at Christmas, and the strain on small budgets so enormous as the desperate desire to "provide some Christmas", becomes the driving force and critical budgets are busted wide open. There is nothing placed under the tree or wrapped in glittery paper which truly has any real value.
What truly has value is not what is under the tree, but He who hung upon the tree. What truly has value are the hearts which gather together in love which is shared. The poorest table becomes a King's feast when family gathers to partake. A bowl of watery soup is a true feast when it is blessed by God and partaken by hearts which love. Our Lord was laid in a humble manger among the animals, the lowest of environments, below even the humblest of abodes, as He came to save all from the lowest of circumstances.
Christmas was outlawed by the Puritans in America, because it was a European time of debauchery and excess, gluttony and drunken revelings. It was the Germanic and European influences which brought it back in the 1800s. It is the corporations which truly celebrate as soon as they can shove Thanksgiving aside.
May we place the the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord of our lives, and may we lay the stress and need to buy huge quantities of glittery fluff aside, and seek to share true unconditional love with our families and those around.
A five dollar bill in a charity bucket will mean so much more than a fruit basket on a table. May we take the time to share His love and our love with those dear ones, and those around. We have so many blessing so much to be thankful for. May we reach out in love and caring. May God so bless you.
December 21, 2011 at 11:14 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )