Giving takes no holiday
Throngs of runners dashed through the snow on Christmas Eve at Canfield Fairgrounds in the Jingle Bell Run ’09 to benefit Hospice of the Valley and the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life.
Dozens will donate a part of their holiday today to slice succulent turkeys and scoop out heaping mounds of mashed potatoes at The Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley and other soup kitchens for the hungry and homeless.
Jewish residents of our community will staff key volunteer hospital positions so that their Christian brethren can enjoy this special holiday with their family and loved ones.
Such selfless acts of giving throughout the Mahoning Valley draw special attention and merit grateful recognition on this highest of Christian holidays. In many respects, however, every day is Christmas day in our community as illustrated by the stalwart commitment to unselfish gifts and acts of kindness all year long in communities large and small in our region.
Those chilly Jingle Bell runners in Canfield ran as but one cog in the Valley’s yearlong state-honored Relay campaign to benefit research and services for cancer patients.
Those volunteers today at the Rescue Mission serve as but one visible reminder of the altruistic fiber of our residents that enabled the shelter to provide 102,839 meals and accommodate 23,298 overnight stays in fiscal year 2009.
Those Jewish volunteers at local hospitals illustrate one facet of interfaith giving and compassion so evident in our Valley.
Giving in ways large and small all year
Our commitment to giving is not, however, limited to the praiseworthy donations of money and time to institutional organizations in the Valley. It also is displayed in less formal, more private ways in every nook and cranny of the region throughout the year. Some examples are found in today’s Letters from Readers column on this page. There is the story of the Good Samaritan who gave $200 to a stranded motorist — and perfect stranger — on Route 224 so that the driver could get his “old clunker” repaired. There are the throngs of Salem-area residents and businesses that made it possible for 600 holiday meals to be served. There is the Joe Kaluza project, in which a community mobilized to build a handicap-accessible home for the paralyzed victim of an armed robbery in Youngstown.
Such stories are endless. On this Christmas Day 2009, our discombobulated economy guarantees such unselfish giving will continue to be needed and appreciated well into the new year and new decade. Now is an opportune time for those wishing to join the valiant army of Mahoning Valley givers to do so. Contact the Hands On Volunteer Network of the Mahoning Valley (782-5877 or its Web site) to enlist your services post haste.