St. Joseph Newsleader • www.thenewsleaders.com
6
Our View
Please be generous in season of giving
‘Tis the season to be jolly. And generous. It’s disappointing to learn the local, St. Cloud-based Salvation Army is behind by about $30,000 on its red-kettle donations this season. The agency hopes to raise between $225,000 and $230,000. Last year the bellringers raised an impressive $219,000. Those funds are vital for operating many services at the Salvation Army. As Jim Muellenbach, community-development director for the Salvation Army, stated in a news story in the St. Joseph and Sartell Newsleaders last week, “We’re not just a holiday organization; we’re open 12 months a year.” Many people do not know that. Or forget that. They assume the Salvation Army is just a seasonal service to help feed needy people or to get toys to needy families. And the agency, indeed, does a great job in those important tasks. But, as Muellenbach pointed out, there are so many other tremendous services the agency offers. There is the 69-bed shelter in East St. Cloud that provides critical emergency shelter for people down on their luck, including quite a few families with children – some on a waiting list. The agency distributes annually more than 5,000 warm coats, hats and mittens, which is a crucial need in this region’s cold weather. The Salvation Army’s Food Shelf distributes, year-round, 240 tons of food to people who are hurting. It provides school supplies, including backpacks, to children whose parents are hardstrapped for money or who are completely broke. And, of course, in keeping with the season, there is the Toy Store program in which parents or guardians can choose toys for their children at a central location. Muellenbach said his job at the Salvation Army is by far the most rewarding job he’s ever had. That’s because not a day goes by but what he doesn’t see directly the result of people’s generosity and the agency’s services. And that heartwarming result is people getting back on their feet with a renewed spirit of hope and determination. Success stories abound, Muellenbach noted. It’s amazing what a “hand up” (as opposed to a “hand out”) can do to change the course of people’s lives. That ancient adage, “There but for fortune go you and I,” is so true. Muellenbach sees the truth of it every day when he meets people who were doing just fine just weeks before but who, through some calamity or combination of calamities, bring them to seek help at the Salvation Army. Such calamities include loss of a job, divorce or death, medical problems, mental problems or other forms of just plain rotten bad luck. It’s good to remember those people during this season of giving. Please be generous to the Salvation Army and to other charities.
Fairness and ethics
Newsleader staff members have the responsibility to report news fairly and accurately and are accountable to the public. Readers who feel we’ve fallen short of these standards are urged to call the Newsleader office at 363-7741. If matters cannot be resolved locally, readers are encouraged to take complaints to the Minnesota News Council, an independent agency designed to improve relationships between the public and the media and resolve conflicts. The council office may be reached at 612-341-9357.
Friday, Dec. 20, 2013
Opinion What’s sadder than a kid without a toy? Every Christmas season the twins Ken and Sandra cross my mind. They were two of the students in my third-grade class at Washington Elementary School in south St. Cloud way back in the 1950s. Christmas was always an exciting time in grade school. Our little heads were filled with happy thoughts of the toys “Santa” would be bringing us on Christmas Eve and the equally happy thought of getting days off from school, a chance to stay home and play endlessly with our new toys. Our school was always decorated top to bottom with Christmas images – its hallway walls lined with our color-crayon drawings, the huge tree in the vestibule sparkling with ornaments and the colored-paper chain garlands we students made, the gymnasium filled with the joyous singing at the Christmas concert. I can still remember, in third-grade, enjoying the concert, then walking in single file like ducklings down the highly-waxed green-tiled hallway back to our classroom. There, the teacher had arranged all the desks in a circle. It was gift-giving time. A week earlier we had plucked names out of a hat, and each student would then get a present from a mystery giver. Eagerly, we took our seats in our circle. The teacher distributed the colorfully wrapped gifts to the recipients. Then, bristling with excitement, each of us opened our presents, one at a time.
Dennis Dalman Editor My gift, I quickly noticed, looked somehow shabby sad. It was wrapped clumsily with what looked like oldand-faded birthday paper, the creases from some previous box still visible on it. I could tell instantly, from its shape and feel, it was some kind of coloring book. The gift said, “To Dennis from Ken.” I looked over at Ken and smiled and waved. He smiled back blushing, bashful, like he always did. Ken and Sandra, sad to say, were practically aliens in our classroom. They lived right across the street, their ramshackle gloomy old house on 8th Street, visible right through our big row of classroom windows. Those twins were so obviously living in poverty. They came to school looking vaguely unwashed, with tousled hair, always wearing hand-me-downs – Ken with worn corduroy pants way too big for him, Sandra with dresses that looked like they’d been handmade from faded flowery sheets. I felt so sorry for them because they always looked so nervous, as if they were ready to cry any minute. I would go out of my way to try to be nice to them. But they were so shy, it was hard to get through their skittish
reserve. “Dennis, it’s your turn,” Mrs. Dripp, the teacher, said. At that, I quickly opened the present. Sure enough, it was a connectthe-dots book. But, like the wrapping, it looked worn, used. I riffled through the pages and instantly saw the dull-gray smudge marks of erasures. Oh no! Poor Kenny or his parents couldn’t afford to buy a present, so he gave me his own connect-thedots book, having worked so hard to erase all the pencil lines. I looked across at Ken, who was looking so scared and so embarrassed, his head down. “Hey, Kenny!” I said. “Gee, thanks. This is just what I wanted.” I could see his visible relief. He smiled bashfully, blushing. “You’re welcome,” he said. Sandra was also looking over at the gift. She, too, seemed to brighten and smile. They say it’s not the gift that counts; it’s the thought. Well, that’s how I felt about Ken’s gift. He must have been up half the night, erasing, erasing, erasing those pencil lines. Every Christmas season, I remember Ken and his connect-the-dots gift. They remind me of how many children in poor families don’t have merry Christmases. Some don’t even get a single gift. And what is sadder than a kid without a toy on Christmas Day?
Christmas elves pay secret visit to Newsleader office After a long Thanksgiving weekend, I walked into the Newsleader office Monday morning, greeted the staff in my usual way and exclaimed, “Who put up the Christmas tree? What a nice surprise.” Smack in the middle of the front window stood a 5-foot tall imitation Christmas tree with brand new cinnamon-colored balls and baubles hung on its many branches. The two ladies in the office, Tara, our graphic designer, and Kathryn, my sales assistant, gave me a blank stare and Tara said slack-jawed, “We thought you did.” I assured them I’d been out of town for the holiday and only returned Sunday evening. “Well that’s strange,” Tara said, “I asked Kathy when I came in this morning if she was the culprit, but she’s denying the whole thing.” Kathryn said adamantly, “I didn’t do it.” Tara and I looked at each other and decided either she was telling the truth or she definitely could hold her poker face. “Then,” Tara said, “when Kathy said it wasn’t her, I assumed you and the kids had come in over the course of the weekend and put up the tree and ornaments.” I said, “Well I know it wasn’t me, but who would do that – pay for a fake tree and all the bells and whistles? And who else has access to the office besides us three?” We started to wonder out loud. Could it be the renters in the basement? No they don’t have access to the upstairs office. Could it be a past employee who may not
Janelle Von Pinnon Publisher have turned in the keys? Why would they want to do such a nice favor? Tara said, “I’ll call Glen (our delivery driver) and ask him if he planned it all.” But when she called she only got a voicemail message. “Maybe it was Dennis (our editor),” Tara said. “You know how much he loves Christmas and is always decorating his own place so nicely.” But when Dennis answered the phone, he was as surprised as the rest of us. “Maybe we have Christmas elves who secretly did the deed,” he said. “Or maybe Kathryn’s just a super good actress.” Then Glen stopped by because he happened to be in the area when he received the earlier message. We all stood around for a while, mystified by the whole thing. Then we decided if we couldn’t figure out who had done it, maybe we needed to get the police involved because someone had definitely been in the building during the weekend. “But there’s no sign of forced entry,” I said. “And if someone did break in, why would they do such a nice thing and not take anything else when they left?” I couldn’t fathom pressing charges against a “pay it forward” burglar. Then Glen piped up, “Maybe your
husband did it as a goodwill gesture on his part.” My husband did have to work Friday so was not with us for Thanksgiving weekend, but I assured all of them he doesn’t have access to the building either unless I give him my key when he’s helping with maintenance and the like. Finally, it dawned on me, my 19-yearold daughter, Rajahna, had been helping with administrative duties during the summer while one of the staff was on medical leave and may have kept her key. When I contacted her later that day, and when I asked her if she knew anything about the tree, she sheepishly said, “Maybe. What if I did?” Then she finally confessed and said, “Merry Christmas! I was having a hard time deciding what to get you for Christmas, and I know how much you love a tree for the holidays, so Noah (her boyfriend) and I came in Sunday evening and put together the tree and decorated it for you and everyone at the office to enjoy.” “What a thoughtful thing to do,” I said. “Thank you.” Later Dennis said, “Well I’m glad it turned out to be Rajahna. It was either that, or Kathryn deserves an Oscar for her straight-faced performance.” It was good to have the riddle solved. We’d been so stumped we were thinking about publishing in the paper a thank-you note to such a mysterious Christmas burglar who, instead of taking things, gives such good cheer.