Tis the Season to Give Back to First Responders

 

This is the time of year when we all start to focus a little more on giving. There are so many people who could use some good cheer that sometimes, it’s hard to know where to begin.

I was in New York City on September 11, 2001, working in my office in Times Square. Unable to get home to New Jersey that evening, I stayed with a friend in Midtown, whose apartment windows just so happened to have an unobstructed view of the World Trade Center. It also happened that the Avenue she lived on became an access road for the fire trucks that were coming in from all over New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. All afternoon long we watched the smoky area where the towers had stood just hours earlier. Where thousands of people had worked and lost lives. Where we visited on class trips. Where friends who had gotten married just three weeks earlier both worked. Where my father had worked for the better part of 20 years. Where, though we didn’t know it at the time, my cousin lost his life.

In the weeks after 9/11, I wanted to do something, anything, to give back. That October I won a marketing award from the magazine that I worked for at the time. With that came a monetary gift of $250. As soon as I heard it I knew where most of that money was headed. That afternoon I bought two $100 gift cards from local restaurants and brought them over to the local fire house. For a few years, on the anniversary of 9/11, I would bring something over to the fire house.

Not having any close friends or relatives at the time who were firefighters, I hadn’t a true, full appreciation for their willingness to sacrifice their own lives to save others until hearing the roar of those engines go down the street on the night of 9/11.

I had wanted to keep up with those gifts to the fire house on regular basis, but life got busy, as it often does. The last couple of years on Thanksgiving Day I brought fresh farm stand pies to the fire house and emergency responders unit. It just felt right.

Last week I got a box filled with a Kleenex® Brand care package and decided to take it over to the fire house. Those guys sure cannot afford to get sick, nor spread their germs to one another, especially at this time of the year between cold and flu season and the holidays. There are too many people who rely on them being at work. The box was filled with Kleenex® Brand tissues, hand sanitizer, cough drops, and a few other items to help them stay healthy. This morning I dropped it off with a brief explanation but without much fanfare. The gentleman who accepted the package was both gracious and grateful.

Maybe it’s not the fire station that resonates most with you as a place for giving, and that is perfectly okay. Perhaps it’s an elder care facility, a school, an animal shelter, or something else. Whether it’s by making and delivering a Kleenex® Brand care package to a neighbor, or even preparing your child’s class for the cold and flu season, it sure feels pretty great to do something nice for someone else.

Who will you be giving to this season?

Disclosure: I received Kleenex® Brand products as part of this sponsored post on behalf of Socialstars #KleenexCare