Commun ty Matters Lawrence Presbyterian Manor
December 2014
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus “Yes,Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its Rhonda Parks highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus!” – Editorial Page, NewYork Sun, 1897
Residents ready to share the spirit of Christmas with a local family
Whether it’s the spirit of the Christmas stories you love or the memories you treasure as you read the wonderful storylines year after year, the true meaning of what really matters is the heartfelt message of love, joy and peace. The greatest of all Christmas stories is told in the Gospel of Luke. The miracle of Jesus’ birth compels us to have the faith to believe in things we cannot see. Like Virginia, many of us struggle to understand life’s true meaning. As Francis P. Church explained in his editorial in The New York Sun, “The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.”
Lawrence Presbyterian Manor residents will continue a cherished Christmas tradition as they help provide a merry Christmas for a local family in need.
It would be magnificent if every day of the year we could capture just a small dose of the wonder, charity and childlike faith Christmas
Chaplain Dottie says the ability to Adopt a Family as a community expresses the true spirit of Christmas.
SANTA, continued on page 4
For more than a decade, the Spiritual Life Committee has collected donations to Adopt a Family for the holidays via the Salvation Army. Committee chair Earl Huyser says the amount collected grows every year, and about $1,500 was raised in 2013. “I’m always impressed at how generous the people are here,” Huyser said. The process begins with Chaplain Dottie Scholtz, who applies to the Salvation Army for a family to sponsor. Within a few weeks, she receives a confirmation and details about the family, such as the number and ages of children and items on their wish list (but the family remains anonymous). Then, the committee shares the family’s profile with Manor residents, so they can learn about whom they are helping and donate as they wish. Then it’s time to shop. “There’s a very small window from time we get the family to the time we go shopping,” Huyser said. “It’s a very busy time for a little while.”
“I believe that Christmas is about giving, and to know that we can bring joy to a family in our community is a tremendous blessing to the residents here at Lawrence Presbyterian Manor and myself as chaplain,” she said.