Better to Give

School is out and Christmas break has begun. Much as I love my time off, the past weeks of school have been amazing as I've seen the hearts of students open up and give freely to those in need.

*

Many charitable agencies have reported a drop in donations as our economy has taken a nosedive, but our school decided to be proactive.

When our local police department stated that the Shop with a Cop program had insufficient funds to operate this year, our principal Mr. Ball issued a challenge to the district. Thanks to the generosity of students and staff, by 2:00 that same afternoon he was able to hand the police more than $1,400!

A week later we learned that the police department used that money to take 219 children from our district to shop for a Christmas present!

Next, the student body was invited to "can" the assistant principal in charge of discipline, Mr. Clark, by loading his office up with so many canned goods that he'd be unable to get to his desk! The kids with disciplinary issues loved the idea of an assistant principal who couldn't drag them into his office. They very nearly succeeded with 1,748 cans!

Let us not forget the Penny Wars! Each class is issued 2 large jars: a penny jar and a bombing jar. The goal is to be the class with the most pennies in your jar. Pennies only! However, other classes can "bomb" you by placing silver coins and bills in your bombing jar, forcing you to subtract that amount from your total pennies.
*

In other words, even if you had $100 in pennies, if you were bombed with $90 in silver and green, you could only count $10 as your total! The bombing, of course, is where the big money comes from.

Many teachers become very competitive, adopting military names and plotting stealth bombing runs. Gloating emails to rival classes run rampant. Our class was Carter's Covert Commandoes and we did a pretty good job of flying under the radar. We only got bombed once! Our other troops (classes on our team) weren't so lucky.

No word on the total yet, but last year the Penny Wars garnered over $1,500. I expect we topped that this year because the competition was so fierce. Keep in mind, our high school only has about 900 students.

To me, this is what Christmas is all about. I'm thrilled to see so many young people who are less focused on what they want for themselves and more involved in helping others have a nice Christmas. The joy they receive will be far more lasting than any other gifts they will find beneath their Christmas trees.

*

Opening our hearts and extending our hands is the best way to honor our Savior, who is the greatest gift of all.

*

Merry Christmas!