Tis the season to celebrate with generosity

A couple of months ago, we made an appeal to the community to give generously to HomeFront’s annual Thanksgiving food basket drive.
   It was no surprise to us that residents stepped up and not only provided a cornucopia of foodstuffs for Thanksgiving dinners, but baskets of food for meals for the ensuring weeks.
   Now relief organizations and nonprofits including HomeFront of Lawrence and the Red Cross of Central New Jersey fear donor fatigue. Either donors are reducing annual contributions or simply taking a pass.
   The Red Cross of Central New Jersey saw a significant decrease in contributions between January and June, amounting to several hundred thousand dollars that the chapter was counting on to deliver important services.
   The national and international calls for aid in 2005, for the tsunami that devastated Southeast Asia and the pleas for help from Gulf Coast when hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck prompted an outpouring of monetary gifts and other tangible donations. Many of those donations were earmarked for those natural disasters, and not a cent trickled down to local Red Cross chapters.
   Connie Mercer, executive director of HomeFront, a Lawrence-based organization that helps feed and shelter homeless population in Mercer County, has more empty than full shelves in the organization’s food pantry.
   We can understand the sentiments of making a gift several times a year only to feel tapped out when the proverbial hat is passed around once more.
   With that in mind, we’re making another call to the community to be as generous as possible this season to help prevent some of the most vulnerable populations from slipping deeper in to poverty.
   There are some fun ways to help out.
   At holiday parties, why not making giving the theme? Have extra holiday decorations cluttering the attic, such as an old artificial tree? Turn it in to a giving tree and collected donated gift cards to area stores.
   Or give another precious gift — time. Volunteer a few hours a week with a nonprofit organization.
   During this holiday season celebrate with generosity — perhaps a bag of groceries to a food bank or a monetary donation to a local relief organization or a few hours as a literacy tutor — it’s the most precious gift one can give.