THE MONTH was November. The year was 1971. The war in Vietnam still raged. President Nixon occupied the White House.
College football fans across the nation were transfixed about the upcoming showdown for the national title in Miami’s Orange Bowl between Bear Bryant’s Alabama Crimson Tide, featuring running back Johnny Musso, and Bob Devaney’s Nebraska Cornhuskers, led by eventual Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers.
But in Savannah, several community leaders — including those who ran this newspaper — had their eyes on something else: Local children in need.
One article published in the Savannah Morning News that month said children who were in Savannah-area foster care homes — about 280 of them — wouldn’t be getting anything for Christmas that year. Budget woes within the state-funded Department of Family and Children Services were blamed.
This wasn’t a lot of money — $8 per child. But it allowed foster parents to buy small gifts to put under the tree.
Yet even foster kids have dreams. To a child who’s living away from home, but is caught up in the excitement of the season, winding up with nothing on the most important of days is a potentially crushing blow.
That’s when several people declared, “No way.” They included James L. Whyte, who was this newspaper’s general manager, and its executive editor, Wallace M. Davis Jr.
They and others in the community, including those who do the heavy lifting for social service agencies in our area, got together. They created a mechanism based on a simple premise: That no kid will go without a smile on his or her face during the holidays because of circumstances beyond their control.
That includes parents who lose jobs.
That includes sickness, fires and personal tragedies.
That includes a lousy home life, as a child shouldn’t be punished because of the irresponsible acts of adults.
They called their creation the “Empty Stocking Fund.”
They kicked it off so it couldn’t be missed, with a six-column news article, spread across the top of front page of this newspaper on Thanksgiving Day.
Thus a grand tradition — the very model of a true grassroots effort — was born. It continues to this day, 41 years later.
Little has changed during the last four decades, except for the technology. This newspaper and its website carry articles about real people in our community who are struggling. (The names and some information are altered to protect their privacy.) Readers are asked to contribute, lifting the spirits of children caught up in dire situations.
The Salvation Army and the United Way of the Coastal Empire are partnering with us, screening applicants and using the 211 information and referral call center to handle aid requests. Help is steered to those most in need.
Last year, readers generously contributed $93,483 between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. Their selflessness provided cheer to 1,568 families in our community — including families to whom Christmas would have been just another day,
It’s midway through this year’s Empty Stocking Fund drive. We thank the many people, civic clubs, school groups, churches and other organizations that have already contributed. We offer advance thanks to those who plan to give or who are thinking about contributing.
Acts of charity aren’t easy these days. The economy still hasn’t rebounded. Our leaders in Washington are making us nervous about the fiscal cliff that awaits us in January if they can’t work things out.
At the same time, it doesn’t take much to put a twinkle in a child’s eye.
We continue to show our strong support by acknowledging the names of donors on our front page, as contributors specify. Some give in memory of loved ones, which is fine. Some contribute anonymously, which is fine, too.
“Christmas is a time of warmth, of giving ... and of sharing with the less fortunate,” this newspaper declared at the top of Page One on Nov. 25, 1971.
Our commitment to this noble purpose has not wavered. So please help stuff the Empty Stocking. Help show what the meaning of this holiday season is all about.
HOW TO HELP
Make checks payable to the Empty Stocking Fund and mail to the Savannah Morning News, P.O. Box 1088, Savannah, GA 31402-1088. Or donate at savannahnow.com/emptystocking.