This Holiday Season

This is a repost of something I wrote last year, but it means alot to me, so I am posting it again this year.

On December 12, 2009, a young boy and his father were out doing some holiday shopping. For a few weeks now, the boy had seen the Salvation Army’s red buckets outside every store he went into, and he loved to drop change into them. Today, however, he was curious. “Daddy, why do we put money into the red buckets?” he asked. His father replied, “Because some people have a hard time at the holidays. Sometimes they need some extra help,” to which the boy responded, “Help with what?” His father answered “Well, you know how we have a nice big dinner at Grandma and Grandpa’s? Some people don’t have enough food to be able to do that.” The little boy sat a moment and then said, very urgently, “Daddy, we need to go home. Right now! We need to get my bank!” at this point, his eyes welled up with tears, and he continued, “I have to make sure everyone has a good holiday. I need them to have my money.”

The people in this story are Joshua and Charles Buckland.

This holiday season, I ask one thing of you – help a stranger. It can be as simple as dropping your pocket-change into a red bucket, or as elaborate as choosing to sponsor a family in need. However you are able to do it please let the kind spirit of Joshua Buckland live on, and make someone’s holiday a little brighter.