Generosity abounds during the holiday season

By Marci Laehr-Tenuta

Wednesday, December 28, 2005 2:04 AM CST

Sometimes, amid the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations, I think many of us who have been generously blessed in our lives forget to stop, set aside our shopping lists and baking pans to do something nice for others.

We may pitch a few dollars in the Salvation Army kettle, but our days are so full of shopping, baking, party planning, wrapping and sending out cards, that we don't take the time to squeeze in dropping off donations at the local food pantry or taking toys to the local shelters.

Some of us don't anyway, but there are those who do. This column is dedicated to them.

Last week, just a few short days before Christmas, Karen Carnabucci of the Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church's women's group and Lake House Health & Learning Center, delivered 50 Christmas stockings to girls at Southern Oaks Girls School near Kansasville and Union Grove.

The stockings were full of little gifts of toiletries, stationary, knit hats, soft slippers, pencils or pens and more, all which was donated by Olympia Brown church members, friends and colleagues.

"I learned about the need for gifts at Southern Oaks while visiting there about four years ago as a consultant," said Carnabucci, who is a private practice psychotherapist, consultant and trainer. She said the superintendent of the institution, Pat Ogren, told her that many of the girls at Southern Oaks didn't receive holiday presents because their parents and other relatives were sometimes not available, in jail themselves, drug addicted or otherwise absent.

"In the round of charitable causes, prisons are often left out," Carnabucci said. "Many people don't know about the need for remembering people in our correctional institutions such as Southern Oaks. Our church members, family members and friends really have embraced this project. People donated enough to fill 50 stockings for the Southern Oaks girls."

She even ended up with more than she needed due to their generosity, and those extra items were taken to HALO, Bethany Apartments, the Women's Resource Center, and SAFE Haven.

Carnabucci plans to make the Christmas stockings for Southern Oaks an annual project. If people would like to help for next year, they can contact her at (262) 633-2645.

"Better yet, they could begin their own group to start their own collection," she said.

Gifts of clothing suitable for teens, yarn for crochet projects and other craft items are always welcomed.

Good Samaritans The family of Marvin Wirtz wrote me an e-mail recently about three kind men who they would like to publicly thank for helping their father.

On Dec. 11, Marvin started his Sunday morning like countless before: He drove to the local bakery to pick up a fresh loaf of bread and a sweet roll to have for breakfast before going to church. As he pulled into the driveway to get the Sunday newspaper, he noticed it wasn't in the paper container, but in the ditch in the front yard.

"He thought he'd just walk down and get the paper," the e-mail said. "Little did he realize that with all the snow that had fallen over the past few days, the snow was up to his knees. He lost his footing and fell face first into the ditch."

Apparently, Marvin managed to turn himself over, and as he lay there wondering how he was going to get up, three young men drove past and saw him. They pulled over and asked Marvin if he was all right. "Two of them put my dad's arms around their necks and lifted him out of the ditch. I think my father was so stunned by everything, he forgot to thank these guys for being good Samaritans."

On his behalf, Marvin's family would like to do just that. "We would like to thank these three wise men for taking the time to stop on busy Highway 11 to help a good person who needed a little push," said the e-mail.

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