Gift Bags of Hope

Street children in Manila receive gift bags of hope (image from associationanak.org)

In addition to publishing here at Peachy Green and my two related solar power blogs (solarpanelspower.net and solarpowerpanels.ws), I write at HubPages, which is a hosted community writing site.  I read many wonderful articles (or “hubs” as they are called) and often comment or recommend them to my friends.

Recently, one hub that really caught my eye and I thought would be perfect to share here on Peachy Green.

In a hub entitled “Christmas Bags of Hope,” the author described one of her family traditions of preparing Gift Bags of Hope to send to street children in Manila, Philippines.  Consider this excerpt from her article:

Sadly, there is a serious divide in the Philippines, between the rich and the poor. This situation is not made easy especially during Christmas when this difference becomes more obvious. The privileged go into a frenzy of partying, shopping, and preparing for the big Christmas dinner called “Noche Buena”. The entire metropolis is lit up to signify the message of joy to the world. But, this is unreal to many families who live like rats, in their makeshift homes. There is no hope and they feel no love.

So, every year, in some little way, we make Christmas bags, and ship boxes of used clothes donated by kindhearted friend. We mobilize members of our family, and their friends, to help us distribute to hundreds of families, and streekids. We share the blessings of food, and a message of hope, praying that this act of kindness during Christmas will make a difference. The smiles we have seen gives us a glimmer of something good. In touching their lives, they have changed ours. Because they know someone cared, they see the world is not so bad after all. They can dream. There is hope.

So, as we approach Christmas, and enjoy the gift of abundance, let’s think about the world around us.

What I love about this Christmas tradition of giving is that it does not happen under the auspices of some International organization.  Nor is it a non-profit group that organizes gift bags of hope each year.  Rather, these are ordinary people doing extraordinary things for people in great need.  The light of Christ shines bright through them.

Its the essence of Christmas, and gives me hope for humanity and the future.  We can all undertake small gestures like this that make a big difference.

If you have stories of other amazing Christmas gifts like this one, please share in the comments below.