Compassion is a Busy Santa

Men put boxes of food and toys in the
back of a vehicle.

By Scott McLean

Holidays are times we are able to see our own reflection in shiny ornaments on a Christmas tree. We can shake our presents and guess what's in them. But holidays are also about giving to people in need, namely those who have little to eat and possibly not enough warm clothes.

Help Them To Hope, an organization serving the needy on both sides of the Idaho-Oregon border and staffed entirely by volunteers, shows what it's like to put compassion into action.

Volunteers work together to make the holidays brighter for those in need.

On a freezing cold Wednesday morning, boxes of food and toys were loaded into vehicles and then delivered to more than 800 families by volunteers using their own cars and gasoline to make the deliveries, according to Help Them To Hope.

The volunteers included men, women and high school students, who helped load boxes into vehicles and school buses for distribution throughout the region.


Students help load a bus headed
for a nearby town.

Food, toys and clothing were donated by countless residents at drop off sites the organization opened shortly before Thanksgiving. The clothing was not delivered with the other items, but instead will be selected by each recipient using a voucher at a nearby clothing warehouse.

Article and photos: Scott McLean