THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512210186
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
SOURCE: Kevin Armstrong
LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
You've made your list. And surely you've checked it twice.
You probably have recognized by now that we're all naughty and nice - just not in equal measures.
Before you've crossed off the names and tossed the gift guide away, I challenge you to look it over one last time.
Whose names are on your list?
Family members for sure and good friends are likely, too. What about co-workers and neighbors, maybe even the boss?
Beyond those obligations and loved ones, is there anyone extra this year? Have you made a difference in a stranger's life this month?
We've spent a lot of extra energy since Thanksgiving tracking down and writing about people in our community who are helping those less fortunate this season.
It has come in many forms.
We've written about concerts for charity, restaurant workers giving up their tips and part of a paycheck for others, students learning firsthand about the value in giving, and employees stuffing stockings for the Salvation Army.
It confirms that people are willing to help if someone else can identify a specific need.
At no time of year are the needs more publicly pronounced than at Christmas.
Besides the charitable causes, the city offers its own opportunity through Holiday Project.
Social Services workers see citizens' needs in a different light than most of us. People who lack a place to live, food for the table and clothes to keep them warm often find their way to the offices on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
The Holiday Project is an annual drive by Social Services between Thanksgiving and Christmas to match those willing to help with those needing it most.
Many find it reassuring that the workers most knowledgeable about a person's background can screen those they're helping.
The best part, though, is the personal contact it offers.
While you're welcome to donate money, clothes or food to Social Services, the Holiday Project is designed to give you the name of a needy family and let you work out the details. You find out what their needs are, what their kids hope to find this Christmas and any other way you can help.
Nothing can replace the joy of seeing gratitude in a wide-eyed child's eyes or the ``thank yous'' voiced countless times by a financially strapped mom or dad.
But this isn't about boosting self-esteem. It's about fulfilling membership in a community.
Unfortunately, the Holiday Project, like Christmas, comes but once a year.
Imagine someone signing up with Social Services to take responsibility for seeing that a family has heat, food, clothes and other goods for all of 1996. And that they determined to find employment or further training for the family bread-winner, so that they could help themselves.
Well, guess what? Such a program exists.
Eunice Whitehurst, supervisor of Social Services' resource development unit, says they have a program for people who get involved in something like Holiday Project and want to continue their help long after the New Year.
It's a mentoring program.
Volunteers work closely with families to help them get back on track in an ongoing relationship.
Currently, only seven people have signed on.
In a city of more than 415,000 residents, this has to be one of the best-kept secrets in town.
Well, it isn't any longer. I'd like to think that dozens, maybe hundreds, of us will call 437-3214 and get on board.
It will be the best gift you could give this Christmas - and one that will last throughout the year. by CNB