Dec

Giving Tuesday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have come and gone, but Tuesday, Dec. 1 was designated National Giving Day, a reminder to remember those less fortunate. Make a contribution to the Combined Federal Campaign part of your holiday celebration.

CFC is an annual fundraising drive across federal agencies where employees pledge their support to charities serving people in need locally, across the nation, and around the globe. There are more than 20,000 charities to choose from, including Smithsonian units, health care organizations, charities that serve the homeless, support our returning veterans, and many others. Visit the CFC home page at www.cfcnca.org to search for a charity or cause that matters to you. On the web page, you can also find information on how to complete your on-line pledge. The campaign ends Dec. 15!

David Ward, senior historian at the National Portrait Gallery, has given us all a gift of the season with this poem:

A Poem For Giving

Well, here we are again, so soon
It seems, the yearly crush of holidays
Rolls round again: ringing bells, the ever present
Threat of childish tears, and life speeds on,
Not slow like when we were kids
But quickly in a now accustomed groove,
A routine we know perhaps too well by rote:
Solstice, a new year, and it begins again, so fast.

A good moment then to stop time
Step outside ourselves, think of what we owe
To others: Family, sure, and friends – give thanks! –
But also strangers, those who live in darker places
Than ourselves, without. Give something of yourself
To someone else, a mite, a gift, the warming light.

David C. Ward