The act of giving can be a gift, or characteristic better known as a virtue, even though it is a time of sunshine and joy we should also be thinking about giving to others. It can be displayed in many ways such as charity or gifts.

I always considered myself a giving person, but one event put it all into perspective for me. An event as a young child involved helping out a far away community and collecting valuable items that I knew would mean so much to the children in Nigeria. My dad had told me about his trips to Nigeria for work, and my family and I collected gently used clothing and teddy bears that we could donate to some of the mission trips to Africa. Even though I was small getting things together and seeing the toys go off to other little children taught me a great lesson about giving.

When all the things were on their way to the children I imagined how excited the kids would be to receive their clothes. Sure enough my dad came back with great stories about the children in Nigeria and it felt really good to know my family played a role in helping people across the world.

A great thing about our community today is the giving spirit and kindness that comes with it.