Questions About Helping

My stream of thought is going crazy at 12:30 am about helping people and the Christmas Cheer Board. First of all the Christmas Cheer Board needs a lot of help right now and you should try to help if you can. Even if that means helping fill hampers, they need you. But a course I took also makes me question how we help people and if we are empowering them to help themselves too.

The course was the History of Inner City Education (Winnipeg). I learned a lot, but mostly about capacity perspective or the glass half full approach. Which brings me back to helping people. What really helps someone living in constant need? Is it a once a year handout which lasts maybe a week or is it something sustainable that comes from the community? What about summer when breakfast programs are no longer available at school for the students? Why don't we focus on the entire year rather than just the winter holidays? What do people feel when they receive a hamper? Grateful? Embarrassed? Earlier today I wrote two posts about Christmas traditions and how they perfect my holidays, not the stuff I receive but yet every year I receive stuff. My mind wouldn't change about Christmas if I didn't receive that stuff. It's the season of snowmen and snowflakes, watching Christmas movies and being around family, does that change when you need help?

I can't answer any of these questions because I grew up in a nice area in a middle class family where both parents have good jobs. Someone has always been there for me, encouraging me when I need it. But I wonder if circumstances were different and I needed the help some people need how would I feel about it. I remember a boy I went to school with grew up poor. I haven't heard from him since grade eight but I remember that year we went to fill hampers at the Christmas Cheer Board and he was one of the students who came and he loved it. Maybe helping is about doing what you can to help everyone, even if one of those people is yourself.