It hardly seems possible that Thanksgiving has arrived and Christmas is just around the corner. Parishes and diocesan groups are making their plans for Christmas celebrations and that, of course, means requests are arriving for help from The Tablet’s Bright Christmas Fund.
Each year, The Tablet asks its readers to contribute to Bright Christmas so that we can help local church groups make Christmas a happy day for all children. Church leaders write to us and explain how they would use the donation. Some buy gifts. Others plan a party. Still others incorporate more elaborate Nativity pageants and socials that help to evangelize the neighborhoods with the message of Christmas.
For instance one academy in Brooklyn – in only its second year as an academy – has 20 youngsters in its first- and second-year classes whose parents are having trouble difficulty paying the tuition.
One board member writes, “It is my hope that by supplying Christmas gifts for these students, their parents will have funds normally spent on gifts to pay off their children’s tuition. This would be a win-win situation for the children, their parents and the Academy. Please give this request your utmost consideration.”
A youth minister in Bensonhurst writes, “With Christmas approaching, we were hoping that the Bright Christmas Fund can help to make our Breakfast with Santa be greater and help us keep our admission cost down, and at the same time offer gifts for all the kids that come to our event.
“More than half of our religious education program is Spanish and middle-class families, and this event will feed their bodies and raise the spirit of Christmas for all that attend. Can you help us in any way to pay for decorations that would brighten the event and the Church, as well as help us get gifts to all the girls and boys?
“We have not been able to run this event for several years, and do hope to bring it back, for either people could not attend for the admission price or we could not run it due to the operating costs. Can you help?”
Yes, we can help these and many more local Catholic groups in Brooklyn and Queens as long as our faithful readers contribute to Bright Christmas.
Some of you have already received letters of solicitation. If you haven’t, don’t wait to respond to our plea. Please send your donation to The Tablet’s Bright Christmas by writing a check to DeSales Media Group (notation, Bright Christmas). We will begin sending out the dollars as soon as we receive them. Last year, you sent us more than $100,000 and that brightened many Christmases around the diocese.
Send your contribution to Bright Christmas, c/o The Tablet, 1712 Tenth Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. 11215.