Season of Giving

This time of year you start to think of all your holiday purchasing plans, including Christmas presents and little family trips here and there. Not to mention the tightening of our pants due to those never ending desserts and leftovers. In this busy and stressful time, the holiday season can become kind of negative. Sometimes it can be a heavy burden to wear, so for that reason, I want to make sure we look at the positive as well.

I have the pleasure of working for a company that encourages its employees to donate their time and money to various charities and non-profits, both local and national. While it would be nice to note them all, there are just too many to list! However, for the Imaging division specifically, helping with the food bank and adopting a family are two programs that we take seriously.

Having children, there is nothing more special than watching your kids eyes light up when they are given a gift, even if it’s only a small thing like reading their favorite book. Many times we take this for granted and forget how some parents and kids don’t get those feelings on a regular basis. Kids that are hungry so often that it becomes a regular feeling, feeling not hungry is the oddity. Parents who would love to give a small (what we might think is a meaningless) present to their child and see that amazing look in a child’s eyes, but can’t afford it.

The last few years our team has adopted a family through the Salvation Army and have provided gifts to them. It’s not about the parents, it’s about the kids and gifts that they are not going to get. Don’t be fooled into thinking the list we get is full of Xboxes or cell phones or TVs. The list is usually more along the lines of a coat for a 10 year old so he is not cold during winter or new pairs of jeans for an 8 year old.

Two years ago when we adopted a family, I along with another teammate were able to deliver the presents. Between the five of us and the money we pitched in to this project, we were able to wrap and give some 35 gifts to a family with two kids. You should have seen the look on the face of these kids as we kept bringing in gifts and gifts and gifts. You would have thought they were seeing Santa in the flesh. It was an amazing feeling and every year when I think, maybe I won’t spend $100 on Adopt a Family, maybe I’ll only do $50, I think of how much fun I had taking the simple request of a jacket and turning it into an entire wardrobe and just making that kids life so much brighter even if it’s just for a short period of time.

So you are probably thinking to yourself, what is the point of this blog? Well, we all have a lot to be thankful for and sometimes it’s easy to be bogged down by what we can’t do and what we can’t afford. I challenge everyone reading this to donate some of your time or money to a charity or nonprofit this holiday season. There are many different charities around the country that have needs; your donation doesn’t need to be extravagant. If you can get involved in helping a family or group of kids that need it, you will find how reenergized and happy such a small financial donation can impact you and your family. Not to mention the impact your gift will have on a family who needs it.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving and the Season of Giving, I can’t wait to see the look on those kids’ eyes as we bring them their gifts.

Andy Hanneman is an Account Manager in the Diagnostic Imaging division of Aureus Medical Group. Andy and his wife are celebrating their twins 1 year birthday. When not working, his life is filled with feeding and changing diapers. (He would also like to mention the tireless efforts of his wonderful, beautiful, patient, and understanding wife who takes care of the girls full-time. Without her, his sleepless nights would be much worse.) Being a parent is an awesome power and responsibility and at the end of the day, his girls bring a huge smile to his face. Plus he wanted to mention, he has not yet dropped them, so he’s got that going for him, which is nice!