The giving season is a two month season, right? Unless you include October 31st where people and businesses give out candy to baby ghosts and bunnies, and miniature superheroes.
It amazes me how every year around the middle of November, local news media begin to turn their attention to families in need. By the first week of December, these human interest stories tend to focus more narrowly on children who need toys. Toys? These are the same children who have basic needs that are not being met, all year round. Needs like food, shelter, warm clothes, and a safe environment. Toys are the least of their worries.
Now that the "giving season" has officially concluded, many local charities will be using their December donations to offset operating expense deficits. For many of the smaller organizations, financial struggles will quickly resume until the next "giving season."
These organizations, along with many extraordinary individuals, will continue reaching out to people all year round. I would like to tell you about one of those individuals, and in an upcoming post, I will share a story about a local charity with a unique focus on meeting basic human needs.
You've seen the bumper sticker that reads, "Let me tell you about my grandchildren?" Well really, let me tell you...
My 10 year old granddaughter and her mother started making hats and scarves a few months ago. It started out as a fun mother-daughter learning project and quickly turned into a little business as family, friends and neighbors wanted hats and scarves. These are not discount store quality. They are handmade in rich colors, some with pom-poms, some with fuzzy brims. My budding little entrepreneur now has a website, www.alliecaps.com, and all the business she can comfortably handle, since it takes about two hours to make a hat.
Five per cent of any profits go to the Chabad Lubavitch Center in Mumbai, and five per cent go to a special fund that was set up for the surviving children of Rabbi Gaviel Holtzberg and his wife Rivkah, who were murdered along with five other people at the Center.
But Allie wants to do more than share hats with family and friends, and donate money to a good cause. She wants to make it more personal.
Inspired by Locks of Love, Allie decided that for those children who cannot comfortably wear a wig, a colorful, cozy hat might be a fun alternative. With chilly weather still ahead, her hats will provide warmth and style at a most difficult time. And lightweight hats will be available in the warmer months to come.
Allie hopes to donate a number of hats each month to kids at Wolfson Children's Hospital, here in northeast Florida, or to any child who needs one, regardless of their location.
So now that the clothing drives, the toy collection campaigns, and the food bank drives are once again off the front page and the 6 o'clock news, the season for giving continues.
Oh I almost forgot. Do I have a picture? Of course I do! We're talking about my grandchildren. Here she is with her handsome brother Robby. Okay, I'm done talking about my grandkids. Sure!
Comments(7)