'Tis Christmas, the season to share with others to ensure a wonderful holiday. | Editorial
Season's greetings, particularly to those fortunate enough to enjoy the love, joy and festivities that come with the Christmas holidays. It is this group that we at The Palm Beach Post editorial board appeal to in hopes that they will think of others who simply aren't able to enjoy what many of us take for granted. Need and misfortune never take a holiday. Neither should we, from caring.
Too often we fall into a lull of Palm Beach County's affluence. The county is one of Florida's wealthiest but according to a 2023 report, 43% of the county's households struggled to make ends meet, 12% of the households lived below the Federal Poverty Level and another 32% earned above the poverty level but not enough to afford the most basic budget.
There are many ways to extend the joy and generosity associated with the holiday season, from contributing to a worthwhile cause or simply donating your time and talents to help an individual or an ongoing community effort to make lives better. These acts not only contribute to a better society but also return a measure of joy and satisfaction to the individual giver.
The Post is doing its part through its Season to Share project, a 28-year effort to raise donations from our readers to help Palm Beach County families and individuals. Since 1995, when the campaign first began, Post readers have contributed more than $16 million to families and individuals in our county and the Treasure Coast. Last year, the holiday drive raised $618,515, and we hope to exceed that through the generosity of readers like you.
The paper has a great partner in the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and Martin Counties, a respected philanthropic presence for more than 50 years. The foundation manages and distributes money raised to help the subjects featured in the Season to Share series that appeared in our news pages between Nov. 26 and Dec. 3.
All Season to Share donations, which are made via the Community Foundation website, go to helping families and individuals nominated by nonprofit agencies working with the foundation. No contributions are used for administrative purposes. Once the nominees’ needs are met, the charitable agencies can use the funds to assist other needy families within their agencies.
We are grateful for their efforts, and yours. At the end of the holidays, however, another year of healthcare challenges ensues. Serious illness is not only costly, it takes a physical and emotionally debilitating toll on both the affected individuals and family and friends caring for them.
This year's profiles included stories involving a woman who survived a double lung transplant and now grappling with huge medical expenses and cystic fibrosis. There's the cancer patient raising two autistic children, the five-year-old boy battling the effects of a large brain tumor and the mother struggling to raise three youngsters while coping with Huntington's Disease.
Season to Share just one way to give
'Tis the season for giving. The Season to Share project is just one of many worthwhile charitable efforts across Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast to help the less fortunate.
For example, according to the Palm Beach County Food Bank, there are more than 132,000 county residents who don't have enough food to eat each day; 38,000 are children. It's part of a national trend that feeding programs across the nation are seeing increasing numbers of households that are "food-insecure." The expiration of enhanced Child Tax Credit and SNAP benefits hasn't helped.
Homelessness also remains a problem. The Lord’s Place, a social services agency based in West Palm Beach, puts the number of homeless in the county at about 3,000, hundreds more than what the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found in its latest homelessness count.
The challenges may seem intractable and at times unsolvable. Thankfully, in a season of giving, our readers have stepped up and shown their generosity. Our community is the better for it.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Christmas is the Season to Share. Help others have a good holiday.
