Every holiday season, we think it’s important, if you can, to help those less fortunate. A segment on Chris Cuomo’s show last night caught our attention and, to be honest, brought tears to our eyes as well. The CNN host read letters children have written to Santa via USPS Operation Santa. The letters didn’t just include the normal toy requests though, some included requests to help their parents find jobs, for coronavirus to go away, and there were even requests to get healthcare workers PPE. It’s worth a few minutes of your time.

After seeing the segment we immediately went to USPSOperationSanta.com to see how we could help. To our surprise, it said, “Check back later. All the letters have been adopted! But new ones arrive every day.” Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for charity organizations and toy drives around the country. Many report that the need is higher than ever and that the donations are lower than usual. WGN in Chicago writes:

The Salvation Army in Aurora said Thursday their typically robust toy donation drive is down 75% this year. The shelves at its Aurora warehouse look empty. And while they’ve received around 2,500 requests for Christmas gifts for kids in need, organizers said they can only fill about 400.

Chicagoland Toys for Tots also canceled one of its biggest events of the year, the Toys for Tots Motorcycle Parade, which last year collected more than 34,000 toys for kids who live in shelters.

“Due to Covid 19, we cannot have a large event, but children still need toys and this year the
need is greater than ever,” Chicagoland Toys for Tots President George Lester Fortier said.

We encourage you to check local organizations that may be collecting toys. Sometimes you can fill requests easily online and in other cases, you can drop toys off in person. Rabbi Rachel Greengrass, President of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami and Rabbi at Temple Beth Am reminds people that with tonight being the first night of Chanukah, it’s a good time to start giving:

“Bringing light into the darkness is a theme of all the winter holidays. During Chanukah, the moon gets smaller, and the earth darker, every night. That’s why we, as Jews, increase the number of candles we light. When the world is darker, we create even more light. This holiday season is a darker one for more people than any in recent history. That puts an added responsibility on us to spread even more light and love. I encourage you to give. Our light is needed in this dark time.”