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PDF versionHappy Thanksgiving to our readers and to all the Top of Utah! As the holiday season starts for 2009, we hope you are home, with loved ones, enjoying quality time and a nice holiday meal.
At this time of year, there are many of our neighbors who are in need. As Charles Dickens so eloquently wrote in "A Christmas Carol," "At this festive season of the year ... it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time."
There are many organizations working hard to provide for those in need. We urge readers to seek them out and offer what they can. The Salvation Army, for example, needs toys for children to receive this Christmas. Other organizations that need assistance include Catholic Community Services, the Christmas Box House, Your Community Connection of Ogden/Northern Utah and the Utah Food Bank.
We'd also like to lend our voice in support of the Utah Foster Care Giving Tree Program, which provides gifts for Utah's foster children. Of particular interest for this worthy group's effort is Utah's many teenage foster children. These children are more vulnerable during the holidays. Some have lived through dysfunctional lives, with parents unable or unwilling to provide sustenance or love. Many of their current foster parents can only afford to provide the essentials for them. They need assistance at Christmas time.
What a wonderful opportunity to treat these children to a holiday gift, whether it's a digital gadget that most of their peers enjoy or even a gift certificate for new clothes, which might be a first experience for these teens.
The Giving Tree Program is also for younger foster children. But there are 309 foster children in the Top of Utah between 11 and 18. Sometimes needy teens are overlooked this time of year. They aren't greedy; they just want to experience some of the same things their peers enjoy, such as the opportunity to download a song to an iPod or buy new clothes.
Enjoy the holiday season. It's our wish that we strive to spread cheer to as many as we can across the Top of Utah.
