In the spirit of the season

Thanksgiving has passed and most of us spent the holiday feasting with friends and family or helping to feed the less fortunate in our area churches and soup kitchens.
Black Friday has come and gone. We shopped until we dropped. We got great gift bargains for our friends and families.
We would like to ask you to stop and consider doing just a little more this year for some of the other people in your lives - your neighbors, your co-workers and most importantly those hundreds of anonymous people that you encounter every day.
Consider volunteering your time if not your money to a worthy cause, a charity, your local church, senior citizen center, a local hospital, your branch library.
There are dozens and dozens of nationally known charities that need your time and or your money, The American Red Cross, The American Cancer Society, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Breast Cancer Fund, the Salvation Army, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the Asian Foundation and Ronald McDonald House Charities to mention just a few we have written about this year.
In bringing you the news of your neighborhoods we have written story after story about local organizations that help others like Life’s WORC, Wheels of Love, St. Mary’s Hospital of Bayside, the Center for the Women of New York, Fisher House Foundation, and the Women and Work program. You may have attended their events, dinners, fundraisers or even availed yourself of their services.
We write about organizations that help our youth like the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. We cover events of groups that help the homeless, the hungry and the elderly - Food Bank for New York City, CARE, AARP Foundation, the Coalition for the Homeless and Habit for Humanity International.
Local groups like Volunteer Ambulance Corps get space in our pages when they hold a blood drive or seek volunteers or additional funds. We can only give these organizations media exposure in the hope that you, our readers, will reach out at least one group, one organization and make a difference. Give of yourselves, of your money and most importantly for many of these charities - of your time.
Finally, if you are not moved to help a group or organization, we ask you to perform a random act of kindness. Knock on an elderly neighbor’s door and see if they are okay or need something from the store. Yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk instead of blowing your horn. Pick up litter on the street when you see it. Hold a door for senior citizen. Let that harried mother with children go ahead of you at the supermarket checkout.
In the spirit of the season - just say thank you to those who help you. A random act of kindness costs you nothing but few seconds of time and thought, but it will make a huge impact on the recipient and our borough. Pass it on.