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By David Vollrath, Executive Director Union County Foundation
The other day I was in one of our local stores (OK it was WalMart) and I couldn’t help but overhear a conversation
between two young mothers, each accompanied by one 5 or 6 year old child. The conversation both troubled and inspired
me. The one mother was wishing a merry Christmas to the other. Rather than the normal reciprocating reply of “and
merry Christmas to you and your family too” the reply was instead, “we will do our best but Steve (not real name)
has been laid-off since June and I don’t know how we are going to make next months house payment. I think we might
lose the house.” The inspiring part was that the one woman, without missing a beat, somehow knew just the right
thing to say to her friend. Right there in the midst of the Christmas shopping masses and madness one human being
was able to give her friend a moment of comfort and a word of encouragement when all else in this family’s world
seemed full of discomfort and discouragement. Clearly those loving words meant an awful lot to the troubled mother.
As I stood at the periphery of this conversation looking for a Christmas card I realized the messages I was reading
in the cards rang so very hollow in light of what I had just overheard and witnessed. These two young mothers portrayed
the Christmas Spirit in a real live Christmas pageant that they didn’t even know they were starring in. No one
viewed this other than the mother’s children and me. I wonder if the mother’s realized that the gifts in their
shopping carts weren’t nearly as valuable as the Christmas Spirit that they unknowingly modeled to their children
and the middle aged man standing in the card section.
On behalf of the Union County Foundation, thank you for all of your acts of charity during this past year and
may your life reflect the Spirit of Christmas in the year to come!
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