The holiday season is such a great time of year. It brings families together to celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. It seems impossible to me that there are people that do not celebrate his birth and it is only about Santa Claus and the receiving of gifts. I grow up in a very faithful family and the celebration of his birth was a large part of our Christmas activities and it was instilled in us that this was the real reason for this joyous season. Of course my brothers and I enjoyed Christmas morning just like millions of other kids.
The giving of gifts is very important and it seems that people are much more generous this time of year. I suppose I would include myself in that group as well, we just seem to donate more this time of year to those who are in need. We should make more of an effort to provide items to needy families at other times of the year. For as long as I can remember my family was involved in providing food to families in need, whether that was through a food drive in the community or by some other means. This involvment as a youth has driven me to pass on to our son the importance of giving and have had him involved in several community service projects the last few years. I hope he will continue this service and giving in the future.
Recently I gathered information on what county Farm Bureaus had done this past year to provide food and fiber to needy families across the Ohio Farm Bureau's South region. I was impressed with the generosity of the many farm families that participated in these events and activities. I would like to mention a few counties efforts and thank these farm families for their generosity. Miami County Farm Bureau organized a "Bushels for Hunger" program which raised approximately $5000.00 that went to three different organizations who's missions are to provide goods and services to families in need. This program gave Miami County farmers the opportunity to donate grain during wheat, corn and soybean harvest at their local grain elevator, which was sold and the money was recently donated to these local charities to distribute. Delaware County Farm Bureau for several years have donated potatoes and this year year was no exception. They donated 700, 5 pound bags of potatoes, which is over 1 1/2 tons of potatoes that will help feed many families this holiday season. Clermont County worked a soup kitchen where they provided and prepared the meal which fed almost 300 needy people in a small community. They also helped the Turkey Federation to prepare 1000 Thanksgiving meals for local families. Montgomery County donated thanksgiving meals to needy families and I encourage you to visit their website, montgomery@ofbf.org for the full story.
These are only a few of the counties that provided help to people in need. There were many more county Farm Bureaus and farm families across the region and state that provided items for those less fortunate this year. Thank you again to all of these families for their generosity.
I hope that this holiday season finds you and your family in good health and very blessed as my family and I are. I also hope that you do your part not only this time of year but throughout the year to help those that are in need.
Merry Christmas and may God bless you and your family.
