the season of giving

This time of year, folks feel especially inclined to give to those in need.  My

problem is, there is so much need, and so many I want to help, that I have

a really hard time deciding.  Where can my small donation do the most

good?  Do I help something big, like St. Jude's Children's Hospital?  Toys for

Tots?  March of Dimes?  Special Olympics?  Buy a cow through Heifers

International?  Do I do something more local, or help a specific family?  I

believe it is so important to give, and help where you can.


We do a lot of donations through our store, we daily get requests for

donations of gift cards to silent auctions for various organizations, big and

small.  And it is always fun when someone comes to fly, and they won it at

a function.


We have raised Charlie to give, and to help him along I set up three mason

jars for him.  They are labeled SPEND, SAVE, and GIVE.  Whenever he

gets money for a birthday, or his monthly allowance, he usually splits it up

into the three jars.  We let him decide how to divide it up.  When he finds

a video game he wants to buy, he checks his SPEND jar to see if it is in

his 'budget'. 


At Christmastime, he takes his GIVE jar and decides what to do.  In the

past, he has bought toys for the Toys for Tots program.  This year, he

decided he wanted to help animals, so last Sunday we went to our area

Humane Society so he could drop it off, and we could check out all of the

animals.  http://www.animalhumanesociety.org/


It showed great restraint for us not to bring home an adorable cat named

Bing, who had an upper respiratory infection, (his owner had brought him to

the shelter as he could no longer afford to keep him).  And we wanted a

lively terrier mix named Jolly, who stuck his paws through the cage and

begged us to take him home.


Criminy, I am not sure how much more my heart can take.


I was very proud of our boy, and I hope that he will continue a tradition of

 giving throughout his life.  And I guess it really doesn't matter where you

 give, or how much you donate, only that you do.


And to all of you, my dear readers, I give my warmest greetings for a

very happy Christmas Eve !