While the lingering effects of Thanksgiving turkey and dressing followed by leftovers can undoubtedly leave us feeling sluggish, we quickly made the annual turnaround into the shopping frenzy that is Black Friday rapidly followed by Cyber Monday.

While this is a time that retail stores, both big and small, are in the midst of their busiest season, that is also true for many civic, charitable and community organizations along with food pantries.

While some small signs of economic recovery can be found, there is a great need for those who work to help others who are less fortunate.

It is certainly easy to find all the great deals on the latest tech gifts, clothes or toys; in many cases the best gift may be something as simple as a bag of canned food items, a gift card or adopting a child to purchase clothing and toys that will help many of these organizations meet the mission of their respective cause.

Although I have always tried to help others, as my wife and daughter were recently cleaning out the closets and bagging up clothes that do not fit anymore,

I also knew that it was certainly time to look at myself in the mirror and question whether I have been doing as much as I can and should.

The result was that ultimately my family has been blessed that our needs are met, and it is something extremely personal to me to always do my part to pay those blessings forward to others.

At the same time, helping others does not mean that there is anything at all wrong with taking advantage of the great deals to be found over the days and weeks ahead. It is important to take care of the needs for your own family.

Personally, I want to make sure my family and I are doing our part and hope to do a little more this year. Doing more to help others in our community is my ultimate goal for this holiday season while helping those organizations reach their goals.

I know that many of these groups do not seek the attention for their efforts and it would be difficult to list them all. The Tribune feels it is important, however, to help get their message and needs out to the public. We have featured many of these organizations and will continue to do so in editions over the coming days and weeks.

Simply put, working together will make the holidays a little brighter for everyone.

 

Josh Morrison is the general manager at The Tribune. To reach him, call 740-532-1441 ext. 16 or by email at josh.morrison@irontontribune.com.