Each year — usually sometime in early September — I start listening to Christmas music.
Friends and family members scold me and make fun of me for it. They say it is way too early. As I walk into the Children Incorporated office many mornings singing the words to the most recent carol I listened to in my car, Renée Kube, our Director of U.S. Programs, is quick to jokingly remind me that there should be no Christmas music and no Christmas decorations until at least after Thanksgiving or the start of the Advent Season.
Christmas music — and the entire Christmas season for that matter — encourages me to look forward, to dream and to embrace all the possibilities that lie ahead.
A sense of hope and promise
The fact is that I listen to Christmas music because it brings me incredible joy. I just love it! It lifts my spirit and fills me with a sense of hope, promise and anticipation of things to come. It challenges me to look beyond all of the negativity that is so prevalent in our world and to recognize the many ways I am blessed.
Christmas music — and the entire Christmas season for that matter — encourages me to look forward, to dream and to embrace all the possibilities that lie ahead.
Sadly, I am very aware that this is not the case for many children around the holidays. For young children, there is often the sad reality that a jolly old Santa will not visit their homes. For older children, the sense of wonder that is so associated with the Yuletide is sometimes replaced by cynicism and resentment as society celebrates all that they do not have.
Helping make Christmas wishes come true
Thanks to our sponsors, children are receiving Christmas gifts this year in some of the poorest and most remote areas of the world.
Children Incorporated can help sponsored and unsponsored children during the holiday season. Your generosity fulfills many dreams and meets many needs that otherwise would go unattended.
Funds from our child sponsorship program allow our dedicated volunteer coordinators to shop for items that are given to impoverished children, not only at Christmas but all year round. Sponsors also give special money gifts for the children they assist that enable our coordinators to obtain items that children both want and need.
Packages containing books, clothing and toys arrive at our various affiliated projects, and children’s eyes light up when they realize that someone outside of their family members and friends actually does care about them.
In this way, our organization allows children to experience the magic and joy of Christmas.
May our kindness offer them a sense of encouragement and a recognition of the world of possibilities before them. May we help them replace some of the sadness in their lives with celebration.
Sharing our blessing with children in need
Together, may we work to offer the children we serve a sense of hope, promise, and anticipation of things to come. May we fill this holiday season with songs for the precious boys and girls whose lives we strive to improve with our generosity and caring.
May our kindness offer them a sense of encouragement and a recognition of the world of possibilities before them. May we help them replace some of the sadness in their lives with celebration.
It doesn’t require a great deal on our parts — just hearts that care and a willingness to share our blessings with them.
With a song in my heart,
Ronald H. Carter
President and Chief Executive Officer
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