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.”
- 30 -
News for
the week of Nov
12 –
Dec 17
