He was 10 years old, old enough to know there was no Santa, because no matter how good he was he still did not get anything, even as a little boy. This particular Christmas morning was no different than the others, except that it was raining.
He rolled over in bed and pulled the blanket up to his ears, mainly to block out the cold, and just in case he heard his two brothers getting up out of bed. They were younger and more hopeful, but he knew better. As he was dozing back off he heard the rustle of bags in the other room. He turned over again and yanked the blanket up over his head. He was angry because he couldn’t go back to sleep and angry because his brothers were playing with some kind of trash bag on Christmas!
His anger quickly subsided as he thought, “at least they’re playing with something.” They didn’t have toys. They barely had a place to live. His parents were separated and they were constantly moving from relative to relative just to have a place to stay.
He finally got up to go see what they were messing up. When he walked into the living room, there they were. He had presents. They were not wrapped but there were bows on each of them; just two toys for him, a robot and a basketball. His two brothers also had toys, and were playing with them. He sat down and held his robot toy and his basketball with a huge smile on his face and tears in his young eyes.
Nine years later when he told me that story he was still bouncing that same basketball. The textured surface of the ball was worn smooth from years of use. That was the first Christmas he and his brothers got any presents. And, since the day he told me that story in 2000, I have been volunteering for Toys For Tots.
Today, there are over 16 million children in America living below poverty level. Over 33 percent of the children in Mississippi are living in poverty According to the U.S. Marine Corp, “the primary goal for Toys for Tots is to deliver, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to the less fortunate.
I’m sure as a child you were excited about Christmas, spending time with family and getting presents. For some kids though, Christmas is a difficult and stressful time. They hear parents fighting about money and gifts, and if their parents don’t live together they have the added stress of who they are going to spend Christmas with or maybe wondering which parent they may not get to see. Some children have to deal with the fear and anxiety of not getting any gifts at all. For a child, this is traumatizing!
This month is the most stressful month of the year for many and while some are wondering about which store has the best sale and how elaborate to decorate their home for the holidays, there are others that are juggling between putting gas in the car to get to their job or paying the utility bill; thinking about Christmas gifts is the last on their mind, but it’s first on a child’s.
Toys for Tots was founded in 1947 and collected thousands of toys the first year. In 1995, the Secretary of Defense approved toys for Tots as an official mission of the Marine Corp Reserve. Toys for tots provide children with hope through getting a gift this time of year. A report in 2014 from the Mississippi Business Journal stated that this state leads the nation in impoverished children, and many are under the age of 6. That translates to over 230,000 in poverty in this state.
Please help and donate a new toy to Toys for Tots and help a child in your area have a little bit of hope this Christmas.
If you want to help but don’t have time, you can donate money on our website and we will get a toy with the monetary value and email the receipt back to you. We are thankful for our corporate sponsers Walgreens and Dollar General and especially thankful for the Marines and the volunteers that make this possible
Please help however you can this year.
MassageXcellence is a drop-off location and will also be helping distribute toys to kids in the area on December 17 at the National Guard Armory in Oxford.
MassageXcellence is also offering a promotion as a way of saying thank you to the ones donating toys or money to ToysForTots. For every new toy brought in, you can choose to receive an additional half hour or a foot scrub for free during your session.
MassageXcellence focuses on helping their clients feel better mentally and physically, and offers a holistic approach to living. Living a more generous lifestyle is something I can show my family and hopefully will encourage others to do the same. Taking the time to help those in need, especially children, has lifelong positive effects on a person.
“The generous man will be prosperous…” Proverbs 11:25(NASB)
Article courtesy of Kristal Woodruff with MassageXcellence. visit MassageXcellence online at http://www.massagexcellence.com.
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