During the Holiday season people give more, but unfortunately the influx of charity and cooperation quickly ends after the holidays. This happened in Utah, where the good people of Utah helped thousands of local people in need during the holidays, but now the state’s food banks still face major food shortages, with many falling hundreds of thousands of pounds behind their goals.
We cannot simply give to charities during the holidays. Rather, we need to work year-round to come up with effective solutions to permanently end hunger and poverty. Essentially, on this issue I agree with The Daily Herald which had the following to say:
The food shortage is a reminder that charity isn’t something we should only practice during the holidays. There is something about the season that seems to make people more generous. Maybe it’s a sense of gratitude for a good year or the thought of someone doing without during cold, dark winter months. Whatever the reason, people’s hearts tend to open.
But, too often, it seems that people put their good intentions and charitable behavior away with the Christmas ornaments, not to be taken out until next November. In their minds, poor people don’t need help during the spring, summer and fall. Worse, some think they don’t deserve it, even little children or the mothers who nurture them.
Poverty doesn’t take time off, nor is it glibly solved. The poor have to cope with finding food, clothing and shelter year-round, not just during the holidays.
While the newspaper articles about desperate families conclude after the holidays, similar stories are being written every day in the lives of human beings in our community. They are still around, still needing a helping hand.
Without your assistance, the food banks may run out of supplies by mid-summer. And hunger in July feels no different than hunger in December.
So, if you haven’t come up with any New Year’s resolutions yet (or at least ones that you actually intend to keep), allow us to suggest one: Make regular donations to the food bank throughout the year. It doesn’t have to be a lot — perhaps just an extra bag of groceries a month.
Ebenezer Scrooge, in Charles Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol,” vowed that he would keep the charitable spirit not just during Christmas but throughout the year. We all should do likewise.
What do you think?