December 2011
What is the true meaning of the holiday season? To many, it’s a
time to get presents and have time off school. To others, it’s a
time of stress and dread since they don’t have the money to make the
holiday season a good one for their family.
To me, the holiday season is about helping others. Just the other
day, I heard a story about a mother who was buying gifts for her
children and her credit card got rejected. The women in line behind
her stepped in after she left and bought all of the gifts for her,
all $400 dollars of gifts. She chased the women down in the parking
lot and gave them to her, and when the women asked for her number so
she could pay her back, she gave her a fake number. The fact that
someone would do something like that just for the sake of making
someone else’s Christmas a little brighter is amazing.
There needs to be more people like that in the world; people who
are willing to spend some of their hard-earned money or time to help
others who may be in a rough patch.
The holidays are a rough time for some people and they spend the
whole month beforehand stressing about how it’s going to work and
how they’ll have the money to make it a happy day for their family.
Giving back should be what the holiday season is about. If you
are lucky enough to have the money to have a great holiday, try to
do something to help others.
There are so many things you can do to help others during the
year and the list just keeps growing during the holiday season.
Everywhere you go, businesses are collecting food or money to give
to those less fortunate. Our own athletic boosters partnered with
Busch’s to collect food and money for food banks in Novi. They had
each of the sports teams send five or six athletes to stand outside
of Busch’s and ask for donations, and they ended up raising a lot of
money for the food banks.
Just doing something simple, like donating a couple of dollars
whenever you pass a Salvation Army kettle or setting aside some
money every week to donate to a specific charity at the end of the
year can really make a difference.
Volunteering makes a huge difference in people’s lives and it can
make a big difference in yours too. It feels so good knowing that
you helped someone have a great holiday and that you’re actually
making a difference in someone’s life.
