The holiday season is here at last. I know it’s a mixed bag for a lot of us and can be a difficult time amid the merriment and glamour, especially this year as the usual get-togethers aren’t happening due to the pandemic.
On one hand, it forces us to adapt to find new ways to fellowship during this sacred time of the year. On the other hand, if the Christmas conversation gets too political or too petty too fast, you can always hang up.
Again, it’s a mixed bag.
Especially during the holidays or in generally bleak times, I find spreading love is good for the soul. Here are some ways you can give back this year, locally and globally.
On with the nice list; there are obviously exclusions as I only have so much room here.
Local Organizations
Agassiz Harrison Community Services
Locally speaking, I think we can all agree that it doesn’t get much more holistic than AHCS. With more than 25 programs serving the needs of the less fortunate among us, their capacity to do good knows no bounds. I’ve seen so many organizations support the AHCS this season for good reason. If you want to support local, they’re among your best bets.
Agassiz Harrison Museum
There’s no history like local history. After all, what is history but archives chronicling the life and times of locals everywhere?
If you’re interested at all in preserving life the way it was and teaching future generations about the illustrious, long history of the District of Kent, what better year than its 125th anniversary is there to support this important effort?
History is crucial and eternally fascinating. After all, without knowing where we came from, we cannot progress to where we need to be.
Harrison Festival Society
One of my personal heartbreaks this year was not being able to attend or cover the Festival of the Arts. I can’t adequately explain how much I was looking forward to that this summer.
While more pragmatic skills are favoured in the world of work, there will always be a place for the arts. Expressions of creativity, whether they be our own or someone else’s, invokes emotion, provokes thought and affirms life. Without art in its various forms, this would be a much darker, bleaker, more terrifying life to live. We need the arts, and the arts, more than ever, need us.
Provincial/National/Global Organizations
Child’s Play
Based in Redmond, Washington, Child’s Play provides toys and games to provide sick children with much-needed fun and distractions while they get treatment in 185 hospitals all over the world as well as domestic violence shelters. This is one of my personal favourites because especially as children, I know there’s power and healing in play.
Pollinator Partnership
Pollinator Partnership is based in San Francisco, dedicated to the conservation of pollinating animals for North American ecosystems and agriculture. The best time to start conservation efforts for future generations was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.
BCSPCA
The BCSPCA hardly needs introduction. It fights for the welfare of our animal friends both wild and domestic and matches animals in need of homes to loving owners. In short, pets are awesome, animals are awesome and the BCSPCA is awesome.
Join me next week on page A6 where we won’t go over the naughty list (sorry!) but have a look at some of my favourite Christmas traditions both in my life and beyond.
See you then. Thanks, always, for reading. Stay safe.
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