Chistmas is a time of giving

[Tee]

What is Christmas all about? Is it about how many gifts you get? Is it about how many lights are on your tree or your house. For many people, Christmas has different meanings. Did anyone see yesterdays paper where the kids submitted drawings representing what Christmas meant to them? Did you notice how many different representations that were drawn from the children of our community? It was interesting to see these and to see what Christmas means to the kids in our town.

To me Christmas is a time to give or help others. I feel I am pretty lucky to be where I am in life; I have a home, a job and am in good health and still young. All the time we hear about people losing there homes to fires, bankruptcy, divorce. People are falling ill to cancer or other ailments. Mothers and fathers are addicted to drugs and subjecting their children to their lifestyle problems. Children are going hungry in one parent families. I believe we have a responsibilty to help those less fortunate than us. "But for the grace of God, there go I"

There is no shortage of community charities that we could be involved in and actually make a difference. There is one charity in our community that is close to my heart. As many of you know, I have been involved with Big Brothers/Big Sisters for 3 years now. I have seen, first hand, what a difference this program can make in a young child's life. A child from a single parent family, without a positive influence in their life is so much more likely to use drugs or be involved in a violent crime.

Big Brothers Big sisters is making a difference in our community. but they cannot do it without your help. It's only through donations from us simple folks that they can even keep their doors open. They are very fortunate to have most of their renting costs for their presence in the mall donated by the mall. They also have many volunteers that donate their special skills for the repairs, remodeling etc. This leaves their donation dollars free to spend on matching children with a "BIG". You'd be surprised to hear how small of an average budget they work on and how efficient a ship they run. Still they are extremely short on funds.

What does Christmas mean to you? Do you have a few bucks you could spare to help out a worthy organization that tends to the needs of the children in our county? If so, I would ask you to give what you can to Big Brothers/ Big Sisters this year and help change a child's life for the better.

Through your contribution, for some children in our community, Christmas may come in the form of a "match" to a long awaited Big Brother or Big Sister. As well as financial contributions, you may want to consider volunteering your time. They have several diffferent volunteer programs available.

Big Brothers Big Sisters
2601 Central Ave LL#12
Dodge City, KS 67801

Thank you and Merry Christmas to all the members on this board.

[Bigun]

And not only kudos to good groups and organiziations like BB/BS but to the anonymous and unsolicited private individuals who give to those in need during not only the holidays but when they see where need is. I want to send my personal thanks again to a very good friend who very unexpectedly helped me out at this time last year when I bad needed it and yet again a little later on. Rock on!