’Tis the season to be filled with merriment and laughter, right?
Unfortunately, our country has had many natural disasters and horrific tragedies and many folks probably have their own challenges too many to list. Yet, let’s recharge our batteries by doing good for others, as a number of Secret Santas have been doing under the radar.
For example, the Italiano’s at 285 Mercer Street in Cherry Hill not only graciously lit their house and yard with gazillions of spectacular lights and play music for the community to enjoy for about fifteen years. This season, their daughter has been busy collecting many kinds of donations for Hurricane Sandy victims through the Red Cross; monetary donations and toys, source for Teachers; gently used coats and a few local food banks. This extraordinary act outshines the fact that you can only imagine how much the family pays for the electricity bills to make all those visitors smile! Cost to us: priceless!
Next, Home Instead Senior Care of Marlton, proudly collected mountains of brand-new gifts from assorted local schools. It was such an incredible initiative involving tons of generous donors. As the gift donations kept rolling in their doors, many healthcare and other professionals donated their time to wrap and tag these precious commodities. The staff delegated and hand-delivered piles of meticulously wrapped packages to senior citizen communities and adult-day centers, primarily those who may not have strong family support to exchange gifts with their loved ones.
One of the volunteers, was amazed how many donations kept pouring in for gift wrap and delivery. To her amazement, Home Instead’s team delivered overflowing amounts of packages for the residents of South Jersey Health Center in Camden. It was truly a holiday miracle, as the Therapeutic Recreation Director, Bob Smaldore was relying of staff donations to gift the SJ population and was noting that the inventory was coming up short, until the kindness of the community-donated and wrapped gifts!
Smaldore commented, “Great job, the gap of gifts has been filled.”
What a win-win situation, paying it forward. To leave you with one lasting note: Let’s continue to find ways to do right by people with random acts of kindness, even for those we may not know. It may make everyone’s spirits much brighter this season!
May you find merriment in joy by helping others and creating a stronger sense of community.
Ami Feller
