This Is the Season to Be Giving

Charity is never as bittersweet, or as necessary, as during the holidays.

This season of giving is particularly hard for very poor parents and their children. The parents may have nothing to give; the children may get nothing. The need for generosity from others is never greater; the opportunity to give never riper.

Fortunately in Southern California many shelters, schools, community service centers and small agencies are ready to accept your gifts. Take a few minutes to give this week: This region boasts every type of charity, and so many of them do unheralded work far from the spotlight.

Some labor heroically to deliver holiday groceries and toys for youngsters to families who live in garages, trailers, shacks and other substandard housing. And battered women’s shelters in particular are often overlooked during the holidays. To see children in the arms of their battered mothers is to come face to face with the need to get involved. Your local church or community center will know how to contact these shelters.

Nothing you are likely to do in the next weeks will bring more warmth to people for whom the holidays are often so cold than a contribution to a local charity. Please give.