Richard A. Sokerka
The Beacon began the Christmas Sharing Fund in 1983 to share with our readership compelling stories from clients of diocesan Catholic Charities agencies whose outlook for Christmas and the New Year were bleak, to say the least.
More than three decades later the heart of the Christmas Sharing Fund remains the same — bringing awareness about the plight of our needy neighbors across the Paterson Diocese to our subscribers so they can help the poor know the true meaning of Christmas through their kindness and generosity.
In the stories that will be published this Advent, our readers will learn about the hardships, the hopes and Christmas wishes that families and individuals served by diocesan Catholic Charities have. Some of these wishes are simple: paying the heating or electric bill; a small toy for a child so there was a gift to open on Christmas morning; a nice holiday meal, or warm clothes for the winter. But it will take the big hearts of Catholics across the Diocese to make them come true.
Over the years, more than $670,000 in Christmas Sharing Fund donations have come in from readers, parishes, community organizations and businesses from all over the Diocese’s three counties of Morris, Passaic and Sussex.
Since the start of the Christmas Sharing Fund, 100 percent of all donations have been given directly to Catholic Charities for their clients’ needs because The Beacon staff handles all of the bookkeeping and clerical costs, including mailing thank you letters to contributors.
For our small staff here at The Beacon, the extra work is a labor of love every Christmas.
It is our hope that this year’s Christmas Sharing Fund will be the most successful one ever.
If we all take to heart the words we heard again in the Gospel reading from the Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe on Sunday, Nov. 26 (“I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you received me into your homes, naked and you clothed me, in prison and you visited me.” Mt 25: 35-36), this year’s Christmas Sharing Fund will indeed be the most successful one in its history.