Boston Spirit writer Kim Harris Stowell contributed the following message to share during this season of gratitude and giving:
To our readers:
I was raised with a commitment to community service always in the background in our family. It was not really talked about, but it happened. My folks were part of an effort to make affordable housing available in our otherwise affluent town, and we cared about the earth, being one of the first families in town to recycle. We were part of the original Foster Parents Plan, supporting children in other parts of the world, and the Fresh Air Fund, which brought inner-city kids out to the suburbs for a couple of weeks, and we attended candlelight vigils protesting the Viet Nam war.
As an adult, I keep that same spirit alive. I am not someone who can write big checks to anyone, but I give regularly to those causes that speak to me. I give to national efforts like the ACLU and Doctors Without Borders — both of whom appreciate the $50 I send them — and also to local grassroots nonprofits. When a group supporting queer Southeast Asian youth began holding thanksgiving dinners, I donated a turkey and delivered it on the day of the event – it was not expensive, but it saved them the cost of buying one as well as the hassle of going and getting it. And it let them know that someone cared. I organized a drive for socks and mittens for the people at Standing Rock, asking friends to bring a donation to a party we were hosting. It was an effort that everyone could participate in, and a friend who was heading out there delivered them.
Sometimes I will give to something where I get something in return — I love my canvas bag from Heifer International and my t-shirt in support of the Hurricane Katrina victims (“Make Levees, Not War”). When my kids were growing up, we would adopt an anonymous family at Christmas, shopping together to buy the items on their lists, and then thinking about them on Christmas Day, imagining their surprise when they saw the gifts my children had chosen for them — I remember my daughter making a gift tag that read, “to a very special eight-year-old girl from Santa.”
It is so important to remember others, to be a good citizen and to strive to make the world a better place. That is especially true in today’s political climate, and the holidays/end of the year is a time when donations are really appreciated, whether big or small. I know there are countless others out there who have this same commitment, some of whom have the same limited ability to contribute large amounts. They, like I, know that anyone can make a difference.
— Kim Harris Stowell
Happy Holidays, from Boston Spirit magazine!
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