Shannon’s Soapbox: It’s the Time of Year for Giving

Shannon Taylor Editor, Dresden Enterprise & Martin Post

It’s that time of year again in Weakley County and at the Dresden Enterprise this is both one of my favorite times and also one of the saddest times of the year. Every year I look forward to our Letters to Santa edition. It’s time consuming to type up all the Santa Letters that we pick up from our local schools every year, but it’s also one of the most heartwarming and heartbreaking tasks I perform here.

When you think about Christmas and the holidays, like me, you probably think about buying gifts for your loved ones, cooking sweet treats and dishes for the holidays, and engaging in festivities within your local church and communities, but let me tell you what the county’s children are hoping for this Christmas.

When I type of the children’s Santa letters I’m always taken by the amount of children that ask for things, not for themselves, but for others—siblings, grandparents, parents and even teachers—are all things on our children’s wish lists. It’s always heartwarming to see the giving nature in our children as I read these letters every year.

Then there’s the heartbreaking nature of typing these letters up where you have a child that wishes a deceased parent could come home or a child wishing their parent wasn’t in jail or the child wishing for food or heat in their house or the child wishing that their family would stop fighting or the child that wishes for their family to spend more time together. These are the letters that break my heart.

We have children in our county just wishing for the very basics this Christmas.

I firmly believe that there are a whole lot of good people in our county that care very much about the children here. I encourage all of you to get out there this Christmas and help support a child in need. While I know that a deceased parent cant be brought back and children hoping for parents to come home from jail is also not a possibility—providing gifts, food and basics is something that the people in this county can achieve. There are so many organizations that help support our local children.

Weakley County Shop with a Cop was a success which helped to provide assistance to 71 children in the county.

Thunderbolt Radio News partnered with the Martin Police Department for the “Blue Light Hunger Fight” and helped raise more than $1,700 and 300 cans of food to help people in need.

Gleason Elementary Beta Club partnered with Thunderbolt Radio and UTM Athletics to coordinate a can caravan bringing in 632 cans of food for people in need.

Santa’s Helpers in Dresden and WeCare in Martin take applications every year to provide assistance with food and gifts for families in the county.

There are many more I am sure that I have missed here, but I urge Weakley Countians to reach out to your local schools, police departments, cities, churches and other organizations to see how you can help a child and their family this Christmas.

This season should be about giving and helping and I truly believe that is something that all Weakley Countians see eye to eye on and that together, we as a community, can make every household more festive this Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

shannon@richardsonmediagroup.net