So I’m listening to WDEL and the case of food giveaway and thinking wow that’s nice; $11.50 for a case of food that will last a weekend. How nice would that be for a family out of work?

But then I think: “Gee, I’m in bad straits, and it’s getting worse.. and my own family is the one who I need to take care of…”

Then someone named Charlene comes on and tells about when she was a single mother and had no money, how much a donation of a bookbag had meant to her… She had no other way of getting one, and someone told her that if she went down to the Breakfast Mission she could pick one up. She railed on how humbled she felt that someone would think of donating a bookbag for someone who they didn’t know to use …..”What wonderful people” she exclaimed….

$11.50.

And then I remembered the night before Thanksgiving, picking up some odd items needed for once a year recipes, ( the bulk buying had already been done), and spending $56 dollars on one flimsy bag of stuff that I really didn’t need… 5 cases of food for 5 families… I then thought of the crappy candle I bought for a fund raiser that was done because someone had bought from my fundraiser too…$24 dollars… 2 cases of food for 2 families…

I really can’t by presents for people who don’t need them when there is stuff like this that is far more important…. Perhaps I could give a card that said I donated a case of food in your name with the money I would have spent on you for the Holidays…but…that sounds tacky and kind of grossly self serving…

I think it is better not to say anything at all, just don’t give them anything this year…And I do have a family that is my first priority… But in discussing this with others, the consensus seems to be that settling for low budget presents that are liked, and spending half of the holiday money where it is really important, such as a case of food, might be how we balance it out this year…

I was impressed that giving was up this year over last…
because the economy sure the hell isn’t…..