“Union County Sheriff's Officers seek “Tree of Hope” donations for kids in need - NJ.com” plus 1 more

Union County Sheriff's Officers seek “Tree of Hope” donations for kids in need - NJ.com

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 09:57 AM PST

Published: Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 1:23 PM Updated: Wednesday, November 24, 2010, 1:25 PM

ELIZABETH -- Every holiday season for more than a decade, Union County Sheriff's Officers have set up their "Tree of Hope" in the courthouse seeking donations of toys and clothing for needy children throughout the county. Each year the response has been overwhelming.

The "Tree of Hope" was first planted in 1997 when officers approached Sheriff Ralph Froehlich and related troubling stories of children who were going to experience a less than happy holiday season. The children the officers encountered were homeless or living in shelters, were victims of domestic violence or medically fragile. Their parents or guardians did not have the financial ability to provide holiday gifts.

Every year since the Sheriff and the "Tree of Hope" committee have erected a tree in the Union County Courthouse featuring paper ornaments. Volunteers make the ornaments and write a particular gift on each one.

"These caring officers do a tremendous job in helping these children," Sheriff Froehlich said. "Even during tough economic and personal times, it is important not to forget those kids who are less fortunate."

Monetary donations to help provide additional gifts are also being sought.

Contributions of money (tax-deductible), toys and clothing can be sent to: Union County Sheriff's Officers Tree of Hope, Union County Courthouse, 2 Broad Street, Elizabeth, N.J., 07207. For more information, call the "Tree of Hope" hotline at 908-629-2158.

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Barnidge: Viewing Thanksgiving through the eyes of kids - San Jose Mercury News

Posted: 24 Nov 2010 09:49 AM PST

By Tom Barnidge
Contra Costa Times columnist

ACCORDING to the story most of us heard in grade school, the first Thanksgiving feast can be traced to 1621.

Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth County was so pleased that his colony had been settled and no one had been scalped that he invited a local tribe of Native Americans to join townspeople for a bite to eat.

We can't be sure they called it Thanksgiving. We can't even be sure that it happened. But it is as good of an explanation as any for the yearly tradition of sitting around a table filled with more food than we can eat.

Americans, who know a good thing when they see one, so willingly embraced the ritual that Abraham Lincoln made it official in 1863. He proclaimed that Thanksgiving would be celebrated as a national holiday every November.

And you thought all he did was end slavery.

Nowadays, we regard the occasion as a time to count our blessings. What we count as blessings, of course, is as different as the people doing the counting.

A sports fan we know will give thanks this Thanksgiving that his TV options include the New England Patriots and Detroit Lions at 9:30 a.m., the New Orleans Saints and Dallas Cowboys at 1:15 p.m. and the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals at 5.

The only way he could be more thankful is if the Golden State Warriors played the Los Angeles Lakers that evening.

We know a woman who will give thanks if her 15-pound turkey is golden brown after

four hours at 325 degrees.

But by far the most interesting perspectives come from more innocent minds: the youngsters who know enough to give thanks but haven't yet contracted Cynic's Disease.

For those we turned to our friends at Contra Costa Christian School in Walnut Creek, where Mrs. Turner's first-grade class and Miss Hoogwerf's second-graders compiled their Thanksgiving lists.

First-grade minds are thankful for a lot of the things you might expect (friends, family, God, home, animals, pets and love) and a few you might not (the army, snakes and Halloween).

One child was thankful for clothes.

Another was thankful for Mrs. Turner. (It never hurts to suck up.)

One was thankful for Thanksgiving, which never would have occurred to us. Isn't that like looking at a picture of a picture of a picture?

One little girl said she was thankful for pie, although she added that was only part of her thanks.

"I'm thankful for my mom, my dad and pie," she said.

And what of her two older brothers?

"No, just my mom, my dad and pie."

The second-graders offered up their thanks in a slightly different fashion. They were asked to write one line of prose as if it were part of a psalm, acknowledging their creator by completing the phrase, "You have given us ..."

Some of their answers: birthdays to celebrate, sports to play, families to love, schools to attend, veterans to serve, puppies to play with, Jesus to love us, money to live on, cousins to play with, food to eat and babies to care for.

But a couple of sharp cookies apparently noticed there had been some oversights. When one boy's turn came, he wrote, "You have given us toys and video games to play." The second added, "You have given us bikes and scooters to ride."

Take it from those who have given this subject serious thought, we have a lot to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Contact Tom Barnidge at tbarnidge@bayarreanewsgroup.com.

Kids Clothing

Wednesday, November 24, 2010