A Fitting Asset for December: Service to Others

I am a few days behind on my posting of this month's asset, but it is a busy season for us here at the Youth Center; so my apologies! This month's asset is: Service to Others, where a young person serves in the community one hour per week or more. This asset is perfect for the month of December considering it is the "season of  giving". We have our kids at the youth center working on a very big and important community service project for the Montville Social Services department, which will benefit less fortunate families in the Montville community during this holiday season!

We also have spent the past few months collecting pennies ( and other coin) as part of our Annual Penny Drive. Each year our students decide to rasie funds to help a cause, agency, or victims/survivors of disasters. Sometimes they choose local, sometimes elsewhere in the USA, and even sometimes global. This year funds are being rasied for the famiiles affected by the April Tornadoes that ripped through Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri, devastating families, businesses, the economy, and the ecology of these areas. I have family in Alabama, who were fortunate to be safe throughout this scary ordeal; but when I was there this past November, driving a family friend's daughter back to college at the University of Alabama, driving through Tuscaloosa gave me a firsthand look at some of the damage. Though these folks are slowly rebuilding, I think that the "every penny counts"philosophy certainly applies here!

So, encourage your kids to pay it forward somewhere for someone! Random Acts of Kindness go a very long way, and the bonus is that kids actually feel really good about themselves when they give back...it builds character and self esteem, which in turn will one day benefit the communiity when these kids become adults...I have seen this with many of my student vonuteers over the years...they have become truly amazing young adult men and women.

I sincerely wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday season, whichever holiday you may celebrate; and if you do not celebrate the holidays, just remember this: doing something good for someone else really should happen all year long!

Take Care~ Barbara