There's still time

Please consider doing something special this holiday season. Go to toysfortots2006.com and click on "sponsor a toy." You can make a donation via credit card and the organization will use the money to purchase appropriate gifts. It seems not many toys are dropped off for kids between the ages of 8 and 14, and they deserve a Merry Christmas, too.

This sad fact came home to me yesterday. There's a grocery store in my neighborhood that puts little construction paper hearts on their tree. Each ornament represents a kid from Hephzibah Home.* Hephzibah offers child welfare services, foster care, daycare, and other important programs. The ornaments give the kid's first name, age, favorite color, clothes sizes, and a special Christmas wish. Shoppers are encouraged to grab an ornament and anonymously play Santa.

This year, instead of picking an ornament off the tree, I brought a box of toys over to Hephzibah. I included Legos and Bratz and Barbie and Pirates of the Caribbean, etc. I felt quite pleased with myself. Then I saw whose ornaments were left on the tree …

Older kids. Like Vanesssa. Age 12. Who wants a CD boombox. And let's face it, a set of Disney Princess books is more fun to pick up than a CD boombox.

But imagine what it must be like for a kid like Vanessa, who must live right here in town, to see that her ornament is one of the few that hasn't been taken. So I took it. The boombox was only $20, and it's worth $20 to me to not conjure up Vanessa's sad, disappointed face.

An easier way around this problem is to go to toysfortots2006.org and click on "sponsor a toy." Please consider it.


*www.hephzibahhome.org