Thanks for this, LisB. I guess it's somewhere in the Bible where it is said "The poor will always be with us." But for so long as I've got more than I need for myself and my family, there is no reason to abide people having to eat out of soup cans in McDonalds' rest rooms.

I help out at the local food pantry. It is painful to witness men, usually accompanied by their children, struggling to maintain their own dignity as they necesarily visit the pantry to make certain their family will have at least something to eat in the next few days. Rightly or wrongly, there is something deep within a father that tells him his self-worth is wrapped up in his ability to be a provider for his family. A look at these men tells you absolutely that the charity of others, whle required for survival, is not sustaining of that man's dignity. It makes me ache to see it.

You are indeed blessed to work for such a company as you describe. I cannot know what they offer in terms of wages and benefits, but how wonderful it is that they also offer oportunity for every employee to get in touch with their own humanity. If only this were more common, there would be no troubled, yet neglected veterans laying on park benches under newspaper sleeping bags, nor would there be families left to choose between heat or groceries to sustain themselves.

How far have we come in the last hundred plus years? Your impactful story written in this Christmas season recalls Dickens and points out that we have such a long way to go before we can truly celebrate the honor of man and the Blessings of God (regardless of who She might be.)

Thanks for sharing.

Lis, your story brought tears to my eyes. Ya know, in all the times I've donated canned goods, I never thought about how the homeless prepared or even opened the cans.

Tomorrow, our local grocery market is accepting food donations at the front of the store, and from now on, I'll be getting the cans with pop-off lids and anything else that has easier access.

I just can't imagine being homeless. I know I wouldn't survive. When my thermostat is set at 68, I'm layered with thermal underwear, a tee shirt, and a sweatshirt.

Thanks for the pause and reminding me how lucky I am.

I like Christmas stories. I am a chump for sympathy and empathy. And this is not empty sympathy and empathy for others.

How in the world did you find Father Christmas as a boss? Like Sleepin says this is right out of Dickens.

And this is a time to be grateful.

Very good, good, good.

And Merry Christmas to all!!!!

When I was a child, I used to bring home wounded animals. I'd nurse them, love them, and release them. The most memorable being a sparrow hawk and a hummingbird.

My daughter brings home wounded people. We have one here now, and I am not too happy about it. Or perhaps I should say "wasn't". Perhaps I need to be more LisB and less G.W. Bush.

Thanks LisB.

LisB that was beautiful. Your Food Bank is very lucky to have food on their shelves and pallets coming in. I help out and donate to our local food bank and right now their shelves are appallingly bare. The lady who runs the place (I work with her occasionally for a project I do in one of my classes) said that many of her usual donors have either a) cut their charitable donations to save money for Christmas shopping or b) are now needing her services. Both of which are sad (but for different reasons). A lot of the food drives they usually get from our university dried up this year because the semester ended two weeks earlier, so students who are usually bringing in boxes of food were studying for exams.

I think it's amazing that your employer pays you all to volunteer. I hope more organizations follow their lead. You should send their info to CNN to get some publicity for the effort...it could lead to some fortunate copycatting!

Thanks, Lisa. There are many of us who are trying to help, yet there are still not enough of us. It's sad on a good day, and overwhelming on a bad one. I do a lot of pro bono work with the uninsured, and it breaks my heart. By doing this I learn how they got to where they are, and most of them never really had a chance.

I see people who were abused and neglected throughout their childhood, people who are obviously learning-disabled and stuck in minimum-wage jobs that don't nearly support a family because of it, I see young adults who take drugs because they're depressed and want to stop but can't, but can't get treatment for the depression or the drug abuse because they're uninsured. Our society, or at least our political system, turns its back on these people, and tells itself without knowing anything about them that it must be their own fault.

But I do have hope. There are a lot of people now who refuse to ignore this, and who do what they can to help. I think there are more now than before. Maybe the tide really is turning.

Early in my career a very wise supervisor told me that every time you help someone, in any way, you give them not just that help, but also a memory of compassion that they can hold onto and may use in the future. Please keep doing all that you're doing.

Nice seasonal post Lisa. I wonder if your company is enlightened enough to know that they are getting back far more than they are giving.
Tom Hollenbach brings up a great point that downtrodden people can also use some professional help to get their lives back together. Legal, medical, financial, educational, occupational, and auto mechanical help are also needed by the homeless and near homeless working poor in America. Food is good, but teaching people how to feed themselves is a better long term solution.
Finally for now, consider taking your family to a soup kitchen for a day of volunteer work. It might just be the best present you will get this year.