Arts and entertainment calendar, week of March 12, 2014

SINGLE IN THE CITY: The dating Buddha

First Posted: 1/2/2014 Few things take us on the roller coaster of emotions quite like Christmas does. From the intense stress levels of accomplishing 10 things at once and being in three places at once, to the euphoric joy that comes with Christmas carols and ugly sweaters and a mug of hot cocoa at the end of a long day, Christmas is quite unique.
Often, at the end of it all, I sit back and wonder, &#8220;Did I get all that I could out of this month? Did I squeeze every last drop out of Christmas?&#8221;
But even with a checklist of carol sings and festival events, that special Christmas feeling isn&#8217;t achieved by checking things off the To-Do List. Usually, Christmas finally hits us when we least expect it to.
There are a lot of busy days in December. There are a lot of reasons to rush through the days, the weeks that lead up to Christmas and just focus on the things that need to get done &#8212; and sometimes forget the reason that we&#8217;re actually doing all of it. I fell victim to that way of thinking, until a very brief moment snapped me back to reality.
I&#8217;m sure you&#8217;re familiar with the Red Kettle campaign that has become ubiquitous during the Christmas season. We have a few others going on during the months of November and December, too. One of the programs we host at The Salvation Army is the &#8220;Adopt a Family&#8221; program, where organization members take it upon themselves to supply presents and food for one family in particular. This organization happened to be one of the local churches. Nine days before Christmas, parishioners brought the toys and food items they had purchased for their family over to our building on Luzerne Avenue.
&#8220;Need help carrying them downstairs?&#8221; I asked my Christmas Coordinator.
&#8220;Nah,&#8221; came her reply. &#8220;We&#8217;re calling the adopted family. They should be over to pick it up soon.&#8221;
We left the toys right there at the top of the stairs.
A short while later, the mother came over to pick up the toys and food for her family&#8217;s Christmas. When we told her that the toys at the top of the stairs were hers, her eyes grew wide and her hands covered her mouth in shock. It wasn&#8217;t a few seconds before she began to tear up.
&#8220;A-all of them?&#8221;
&#8220;Yep. Every single one.&#8221;
We gave her a few seconds to compose herself, and then followed her out to her car to load it up. We filled every nook and cranny of that little car. As we finished, all she could do was stare at it.
&#8220;I had no idea how I was going to give my children Christmas this year,&#8221; she confessed. &#8220;It&#8217;s just been an awful few months. Thank you. Thank you so much.&#8221;
That&#8217;s when Christmas really sunk in for me.
Her story is not all that unique.
Through the generosity of the community and the hard work of our volunteers, we were able to help more than 300 families this Christmas and raise over $43,000 through the Red Kettles. That kind of undertaking doesn&#8217;t happen without a selfless community willing to step up and help others.
I would like to publically thank the many volunteers who helped us this Christmas.
Thank you to all the service groups and individuals who rang the bells for us.
Thank you to Wal-Mart, Price Chopper, Redner&#8217;s, K-Mart and Quinn&#8217;s for allowing us to use your entranceways and vestibules.
Thank you to Kelly, Reba and Bernice for your tireless efforts on the toy and food distribution.
Thank you to Mr. John Haas and the Pittston Area High School for letting us borrow your varsity athlete seniors for a couple days.
Thank you to the fire departments and the Stand Tall Club for the food drives; our shelves look fantastic.
Thank you to members of the Advisory Board for your support and guidance through the entire season.
Thank you to all the organizations that adopted a family and made Christmas come true for so many others.
And thank you to everyone who donated a toy, food or gave a dollar in the kettle. We truly could not have done it without each of you.
We certainly got the most out of Christmas this year.

GUEST COLUMN