In the past week, The Giving Place provided assistance to 12 families, 25 adults and eight children.
The charitable organization thanked Pastor Catherine Thomas and several volunteers for serving those who sought help during the past week and for their help in cleaning, sorting and stocking racks on Wednesday. They also thanked everyone who generously donated food or money to the ministry to make their work possible.
"We are in need of the following items: canned fruit, (especially pears, fruit cocktail, mandarin oranges, pineapple & applesauce), snack items of all kinds, and peanut butter," wrote Mike Williams in an email.
Normally, The Giving Place does not accepting clothing items, but with cold, winter weather now settling in East Central Illinois, they are now accepting donations of new or gently used, clean winter coats, hats and gloves/mittens. Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the organization is not accepting new volunteers at this time.
When I was a child, I thought Christmas would never come. The weeks dragged by while I wore out the toy sections of the Sears and Penny's catalogs hoping Santa might stop by. I always looked for Santa Claus and tried to stay awake on Christmas Eve just to catch a glimpse of the jolly big guy.
Typically, I would see him at the five and dime store or G.C. Murphy's. I always had a list longer than Santa could carry. However, Santa typically managed to show up with something on Christmas thanks to hard working parents who loved Christmas and giving as much as they could.
The anticipation of Christmas was an adrenaline boost as a child. The hopes and dreams of what might come or be always was exciting. The downtime came when late on Christmas day I had to reconcile that Christmas wouldn't happen again for another year. I dreaded seeing the Christmas tree and the outside lights come down. Christmas was always a good winter mood boost. My dad didn't put a lot of Christmas lights up outside but the ones he did put on the house always seemed beautiful and filled the outside air with cheer, brightness and hope.
America is ready for some cheer, brightness and hope and it's coming.
Santa Claus won't be dropping this down the chimney but it's coming soon via your local medical care provider. This one is on its way via pharmaceutical company Pfizer and biotechnology company Moderna Millions of doses of a vaccine for Covid-19 are ready to be released. This vaccine is not coming too early for a country that has been paralyzed by sickness and death.
While the release of these vaccines is coming in record time it's still too late for many. Millions of Americans have been blindsided by this ugly disease that took their lives. People are sick today and desperately need this medicine. For all of us it cannot come soon enough.
Business owners, restaurants, schools, churches, families, factories, the travel industry and old fashion family gatherings are more than ready for these miracle drugs that will hopefully save us from Covid-19.
Americans are living in anticipation of a lot this December. Millions are hoping for a job, an unemployment check and a roof over their heads. They are hoping Congress will get their act together and approve one more stimulus package.
Many Americans this year dread Christmas because they don't have any money and life is filled with worry and uncertainty. For them, life is dragging by and better times can't come quick enough.
While this Christmas is still going to be tough there are some lights burning. We will get through this in America and our vaccines will not only turn America around but it will help millions of others in other nations as well.
The lights are going to get brighter for 2021. Some real cheer, brightness and hope are coming. Let's get through this safely and plan one big Christmas celebration for next year.
