First Posted: 12/10/2014
“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled ‘till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
— Dr. Seuss
We usually make our pleas for contributions to The Empty Stocking Fund on page 1A, where we list the new contributions each day. But because we are a bit worried about this year’s effort, we decided to shake a different tree and make our request for a donation here, on page 4A.
We have until Dec. 19 to accept donations to The Empty Stocking Fund and currently only slightly more than $10,000 has been raised. While we know there are determined fund-raising efforts out there and that a flood of last-minute donations is the norm, we have a long way to go to match last year’s total of about $60,000. For those who care about such things, the record amount raised by The Empty Stocking Fund was in 2007, when the total reached $64,320. Wouldn’t that be nice?
We understand that there are a lot of people who are struggling with the local economy, so making a donation, even a modest one, poses a hardship. But that underlines the importance of efforts like The Empty Stocking Fund. There are, we worry, a lot of children in this county who through no fault of their own are going to be disappointed on Christmas Day. According to the Department of Social Services, about 2,000 of them are looking to the fund for help.
We know there will be a lot of familiar faces who enter this newspaper during the next eight days to make a contribution to the fund. We have over the years come to depend on them. They are faithful contributors.
Our plea today is to people, churches, schools, civic groups and businesses that in the past have not been contributors to the fund. We are asking that you consider a donation, and be mindful that a $50 gift immediately doubles as it will be matched by the generosity of a local benefactor that we ache to credit publicly but don’t because that gift is the purest of all, offered with a request for anonymity.
Don’t misunderstand the quote above that has been offered by Theodor Seuss Geisel, who penned it under the pseudonym of Dr. Seuss in those fabulous children’s books.
The Grinch is realizing that Christmas isn’t about what is being bought from a store, but about giving, which is what we are asking from you today. There is no better way to add cheer to your holiday than to brighten another’s.
