Editor's Note: The Christmas wreath graphic is courtesy of Pat's Christmas Graphics.

There are only a few more shopping days ’til Christmas. Have you bought all those presents for families and friends yet? Each year deciding what presents to buy and then buying them is one of Christmas’ unique chores. But you might consider doing something different this year and in the future.

For the last two years, the staff members of the Office of Academic Affairs, instead of exchanging gifts with each other, decided that it is truly more blessed to give than to receive. For this Christmas and last, they pooled the monies they would have used to buy presents to make charitable contributions. This year, their Christmas fund came to more than $2,300, which was given to 10 organizations. Last year they gave close to $800 to Heifer International.

“When it came up last year, we thought that instead of buying presents for each other, it would be a great idea to donate the money we would spent on each other to charitable organizations,” says Mary Dailey, administrative associate. “This year just about everyone agreed we should do the same. The bosses were told they weren’t to buy gifts for anyone.” In the years before last, exchanging gifts was not mandatory, however.

“We were so glad we did this rather than buying gifts for each other.”

“I though we should be called ‘Academic Affairs United Way,’” says Nancy Savage, records management associate, “because we were so diverse in our giving. We were a mini-United Way.”

The organizations to which they gave included Santa Tree Christmas Project, sponsored by Athens County Children Services, which fulfills Christmas wish lists for local children; the Kathy Gebard Scholarship Fund; Planned Parenthood, which provides health-care services for families; Heifer International, which fights hunger and poverty throughout the world — yes, even in this country — by giving animals, such as goats and cows for farming, food production and manure-based fertilization; United Campus Ministry; National Alliance for the Mentally Ill; Appalachian Peace and Justice Network; Good Works; Alexander (High School) Future Foundation Scholarship Fund; and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

People were free to donate to whatever organizations they wanted, says Christina McGuire, administrative associate. “In our planning meeting, we decided that we would choose four, and if people wanted others, they could donate to them.”

“I picked several different organizations and made a contribution to each one,” she says. McGuire also gave to International Disaster Emergency Services, one of her favorites.

“Giving,” says Dailey, “is a nice lesson for your children.” This is what Rosemary Butcher, administrative coordinator, must have had in mind.

Dailey says that Butcher, in addition to participating in the “mini-United Way,” learned of a family whose father may lose his job at the end of the year and whose mother is facing a severe health crisis. Butcher bought Wal-Mart gift cards for the family’s children and a gas card to pay for the cost of driving the mother to the Cleveland Clinic.

She did this in lieu of buying a final round of presents for her children. Dailey says Butcher’s children were just fine with what their mother did.

And the spirit of giving does not only inhabit OU-COMers during the yuletide season.

“In November, a group of us sponsored The Great American Bake Sale to raise money for Share Our Strength, an organization that makes grants to children’s food programs,” says Dailey.

Keri Nuesmeyer, a CORE administrative assistant at Doctors Hospital in Columbus, spent a weekend in the middle of October supporting the Katrina relief effort in Pascagoula, Miss. Her church, Life Community Church, assisted First Baptist Church in Pascagoula in a variety of projects, ranging from cleaning up and gutting homes to distributing clothes and meals.

Betsy Keyes, a Learning Resource Center administrative assistant, also pitched in the Katrina relief effort. As a member of Volunteers in Mission, a branch of the United Methodist Committee on Relief, she spent a week of her hard-earned vacation helping victims of the hurricane in Waveland, Miss.

Ellen Peterson, geriatric education coordinator, gave 10 hours of her time to Friends and Neighbors Community Center. She also bakes cookies once a month for the center’s free lunch on Wednesdays.

The number of people who donate their time and money for charitable projects is inspiring, says Dailey. “Food pantries, church mission work, scouting, emergency services, coaching youth teams, etc., all benefit from our volunteer efforts and donations.”