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About The amplifier. (West Linn, Oregon) 1921-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2007)
2007 Forum Local charities make donating easy K aitlyn lathrop Contributing Writer We depend heavily on holidays to provide much of our donations. Hunger is especially hard on families, with children being 37% of people who depend on us. Some may think the parents are being lazy and not finding work, but at least one parent is working 47% of the time. Often, there just isn't enough money. A parent being disabled and unable to work may also rely on being Sleep Country USA, are fighting. Many foster children may have to go without things like school supplies and winter coats. Sleep Country holds a coat drive to provide them with warm winter coats, usually once in November and once in February. Contributing to charities during the holidays is great, but we need to do more. There are so many ways to support those in need. Dropping off canned food, serving at a soup kitchen, buying a needy child a desired present, or going online to contribute money are all ways we can give. Use the search engine website goodsearch.com to donate money to your favorite charity. We may not realize it, but we benefit almost As soon as the holiday season rolls around, Americans open their hearts and wallets. Between November and December, millions of dollars are donated for things like food, clothing and toys. These donations benefit all kinds of people: the homeless, low-income families, foster children, sick/hospitalized children and adults. Donations extend to impoverished and third- world countries. A can of beans or jug of water would go unappreciated by many of us, but could save the life of a starving child. We say that Thanksgiving and Christmas are the times we should count our blessings and be Jacob Fogle, junior, and Justin McKee, as much as those we thankful. Unfortunately, freshman, load boxes of food collected help. Studies show that our donations often during the ASB sponsored food drive. This people who volunteer have end when the holidays is one of many opportunities students and higher self esteem, are staff have to help others. more appreciative of what are over. The need for Photo by Malia Chong they have, and have more things such as food and clothing don't. compassion toward others. our emergency food What happens in, say, early Children who volunteer supplies." February when the canned benefit the most. Something Fortunately, many local food starts to run dry and as simple as picking up businesses like Albertsons there aren't any more clothes grocery store collect trash in the park or helping serve food at a soup kitchen to give away? donations year round. According to Jean Kempe- They have as many as three can instill values like Ware, director of public responsibility, respect and drives between January and appreciation. relations for the Oregon October, and usually collect • Food Bank (oregonfoodbank. Share your good fortune. at least 1,000 lbs. of food. org), "Hunger is a Donate this month, next Hunger isn't the only problem all year round. month, in February, problem local charities, one Thanksgiving filled with turkey, but little thanks K aitlyn R agan Staff Reporter Tis' the season of gifts, parties, and food; a time that can pull our focus inward and blind us to the fact that many people in other parts of the world, even other parts of the city, have much less to be thankful for than we do. It is almost harder, when we are surrounded by such blessings and opportunity, remember to stop and take time to be grateful for how much we truly have. When you really think about it, the whole idea behind Thanksgiving, when coupled with its celebratory traditions, is kind of absurd. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American consumes 13.4 pounds of turkey every year, much of it during Thanksgiving. The U.S. produced 664 million pounds of cranberries in 2006 with Minnesota alone raising 45 million turkeys! On this day that we are supposed to remember all we have to be thankful for, we celebrate by stuffing our faces with as much food as our stomachs will allow. It seems backwards. Thanksgiving should be the day we simplify our lives, be grateful for everything we have, and take time to recognize and appreciate the little things in life. We, unlike many others, h a v e r e a s o n to give thanks. I feel like the Thanksgiving tradition almost pulls us in the opposite direction. In the U.S., we consume more dollars worth of turkey on Thanksgiving than the Gross Domestic Product of 22 different nations around the globe, according to World Fact Book. Now that is a shocking statistic. What we spend on one pound of turkey is almost equivalent to the daily living expenses of three billion people living on this planet. The GDP of one quarter of the world's nations is less than the combined wealth of the world's three richest individuals. These facts should be an overwhelming reminder of how extremely lucky we are to live in a country where we are blessed enough to even have a reason to be thankful for anything at all. We are some of the richest people in the world, yet we much of the time, seem also to be the least grateful. It’s hard to convey through words because I often don’t even realize how blessed I am. I know that there are people who are truly suffering right this moment yet I still let my little problems and material desires get the best of me. We have to make a conscious effort to stop and remind ourselves that we really have no, and I mean no, reason to complain or gripe about the petty things because no matter how bad our troubles are there will always be someone who is suffering more. With the holiday season coming up, let’s stop and think about how much we really do have to be grateful for and give thanks. After all, we have a whole day named after it, so let’s do it some justice. "If we need a lot more equipment, usu ally we get more than what’s used in other sports." —Alex Vermillion, sophomore "If they already make money for tickets, than they shouldn't get the most money. The money should be distributed equally." ---- Katie Stevens, freshman *->Ji f b /A \ I j Z How do you feel about the inequality o f sp o rts 1 funding ? "I think it should be equal. It depends on how many people participate in the sport, though." f * W:} ---- Mitchell Rivet, sophomore "Football has the biggest income. There isn't a reason for them to have so much money." -----Michelle Radulesk, junior Ad p h o to s o \ M a lia C h o n g
