Happy holidays from the Sun Newspapers!
As the holiday season begins to wind to a close, we want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who stepped up to help those in need. This time of year usually brings out the best in people. Judging from the number of announcements we received from our readers regarding donation drives, it looks like this year was no exception.
Two years ago, Hurricane Sandy hit our state, and there was an immediate need for support, in the form of food, clothing, supplies and shelter. While there was no one major event like that this year, and while our economy is improving overall, there is still a major need for help in our state, especially for food.
The holiday season always results in an uptick in donations, but the Community Food Bank of New Jersey says what it’s receiving is still far short of what it needs. The reason? A high cost of living in our state coupled with large-scale job loss in places such as Atlantic City.
Based on the number of holiday drives we published this year, though, local organizations are doing their best to help fill this need, and others.
Over the past few weeks, we have had the pleasure of publishing stories about efforts to lend a hand. Like always, there were the usual Toys for Tots drives and more. We don’t keep a formal count of the number of holiday fundraising event stories we publish from year to year, but it certainly seemed that, in 2014, there were many.
So, we thank those individuals and groups who organized these efforts. And, on behalf of them, we also thank everyone who picked up an extra can of non-perishable food, an additional bag of dog food, one more toy and more. To all of those who reached a little deeper into their wallets this year to help out, your generosity truly made a difference.
We wish everyone a happy holiday season and hope for a wonderful 2015.
