BYKAREN SAMPLES
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON - It happens every holiday, they tell me: The Mad Dash to Help Someone Less Fortunate.
Not that social service agencies don't appreciate it. They know Christmas brings out the best in us. Our houses glitter, are hearts warm and we want to reach out. We envision ourselves serving food to the poor or delivering toys to the needy. Anything to get beyond the gauntlet of Christmas shopping, relative visiting and parking-space jockeying.
What we forget is that agencies need help year-round, not just on Thanksgiving and Christmas. And beginning around Nov. 16 through Dec. 26, so many of us try to volunteer, staff members sometimes have trouble returning all the calls.
Welcome House, the homeless shelter in Covington, gets so many donations of used toys every Christmas that there's hardly room to store them.
Every day, six or seven people call to offer themselves for holiday-oriented duties, says Support Services Director Tina Carnevale.
She hates to say she can't fit them into the dining room, but sometimes it's true - literally.
"We have tight buildings, and people are falling all over each other if we have too many in there," Ms. Carnevale says.
"It's wonderful to have that kind of response from the community, but it would be really helpful to have maybe a little less this time of year and a little more throughout the rest of the year."
The Parish Kitchen in Covington is another popular cause. Director Molly Navin gets some 200 calls between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and some people get upset when she has to turn them down.
The kitchen already has 450 regular volunteers throughout the year. They come faithfully every month or week to prepare meals for the next day or serve lunch to guests.
"They truly are the lifeblood," Ms. Navin says.
She appreciates the holiday calls, too. But she's reluctant to shut out regulars to make room for short-term help.
Other agencies are more dependent on Christmas giving. Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Greater Cincinnati, for instance, appreciates businesses adopting families for the holidays.
The gifts really do make a difference - but so would volunteering to help with the agency's summer picnic for children and their partners. Last year, Marriott donated the food and employees of Dave & Buster's in Sharonville assisted with the July 17 event, says Executive Director Kathy List.
"It was a huge help," she says. "They ran three-legged races, they did balloon tosses. It was a ball."
Here's a challenge for us all: This holiday, let's call and ask how we can help on an ongoing basis, or at least at some other time of the year. Then we can reflect on the experience next Christmas. In the summer, school is out and churches are less active, so Welcome House's cupboard is more bare. Ms. Carnevale especially appreciates volunteers who can do some of their good works outside the shelter, because of the limited space. An example would be getting involved with the agency's new mentoring program, which matches volunteers with people entering the work world. The training for this program will take place in January.
Besides mentors, Welcome House can always use blankets, pillows and in-season clothing. Also appreciated: donations of new underwear. Women looking for work after years on welfare are often in the market for a good, sturdy bra. And the homeless can always use socks, which are in short supply at thrift stores.
Big Brothers - Big Sisters recognizes that many people can't commit to seeing a child once a week. In the alternative, sports lovers can donate tickets to hockey, baseball or football games so kids and their partners can go, Ms. List says.
For other ideas, call Senior Services of Northern Kentucky. It needs people to deliver meals to shut-ins, and it has a waiting list of 108 seniors requesting help with grocery shopping, simple chores and home repairs.
Through the agency's Friendly Visitor program, volunteers also can be paired with seniors who enjoy the occasional visit or lunch outing.
There are a lot of good hearts in Northern Kentucky. Sometimes they just need a little direction.
I can't think of a better way to celebrate Christmas than by making a real commitment to another human being.
Karen Samples is The Enquirer's Kentucky columnist. Her column appears on Sundays and Thursdays in The Kentucky Enquirer. She can be reached at 578-5584 or email
her at ksamples@enquirer.com
SAMPLES ARCHIVE
