EDITORIAL: Start holiday swith spirit of helping others

Making shopping number two on your holiday priorities list

   A turkey and some stuffing, maybe a ham and some green beans — not much to ask for, and almost required at some point during the next two months.
   But without help, many families may go without these seasonal goodies.
   Fortunately, there are more than a few ways to help, and the easiest by far is this weekend’s Scouting for Food drive. Local Boy Scouts distributed 10,000 empty plastic shopping bags last week, and they plan on returning for them this weekend. Your only job is to fill those bags with food (a list of what’s needed is printed on each bag) to be donated to the township Food Pantry. All food raised through the drive will be used by the pantry to provide those in need with a holiday meal for Thanksgiving with all the trimmings.
   But, of course, need is something that doesn’t end with Thanksgiving.
   Perhaps a little more challenging, but just as important is the township’s Holiday Program. You or a group of you and your friends, family or co-workers can adopt a family and work on fulfilling their Christmas and holiday wishes.
   This can get a little expensive, but can be extremely satisfying. Participants are given a profile of the family that includes their first names, their ages, clothing sizes and their specific holiday requests. Participants, which have included local businesses and community groups in the past, have told us that they get as much out of the program as those receiving the gifts.
   Of course, there are a lot of other ways to help. The township Division of Social Services has a Human Intervention Trust Fund and accepts monetary donations year round, and the Pantry accepts gift cards from the area’s supermarkets. Checks can be made payable to the Human Intervention Trust Fund and both can be mailed to South Brunswick Township, P.O. Box 190, Monmouth Junction, N.J. 08852 or dropped at Social Services on the bottom floor of the Municipal Building on Route 522, weekday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
   For more information on Social Services contact Director LouAnne Wolf at (732) 329-4000, ext. 7674, or her assistant, Jeanne Wert, at ext. 7672.
   Generally, the pantry seeking nonperishable items to be used in a holiday meal, like stuffing, gravy, canned sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn muffin mix, cake mix, brownie mix, coffee, tea and boxed macaroni and cheese.
   Size three, four and five disposable diapers are also needed.
   There are other options, as well, for residents looking to help out their neighbors — by working through their houses of worship or the township schools, for instance, or through service organizations such as the township Lions Club or the Rotary.
   When you’re helping any of these charities, you might discover the people you’re helping aren’t much different from you. They might be your neighbors, or classmates of your children.
   Sometimes they’ve simply fallen on hard times. Unemployment, low paying jobs and the high cost of living can do that.
   Sometimes there has been a death in the family, or maybe they’ve been hit hard by medical expenses or any number of everyday problems that can hit anyone at anytime.
   The "giving season" is just beginning, so let’s get it off to a great start this weekend by filling those bags.