Some people work better with deadlines. I can be a procrastinator and not usually a great planner, but, when there’s a deadline, I somehow must make things happen. This past Saturday from 9:00 – 1:00 was the last opportunity to donate winter clothing — coats, boots, hats, and gloves, etc. — to the refugees currently being housed in Woburn hotels.

Then we met an old friend for breakfast at the Swanton Street Diner. Then stopped to do a few errands on the way home. By this time, it was about 11:00 and I hadn’t started collecting winter clothing. So, Mary, Angela, and I began scouring the closets and coat racks for unused winter clothing. We ended up with a bag of coats for the refugees, a few coats for Anton’s Cleaners, who if you didn’t know will clean and donate coats to those in need, and some gloves, hats, scarves, and socks that needed to be cleaned and not fit for donating. (If I had planned, those items would have been cleaned and ready to go.) Mary and I then, around 12:30, delivered the coats to the North Woburn Congregational Church, just one of the organizations supporting the refugees in Woburn.

During this holiday season, there will be plenty of opportunities for giving. Don’t wait until the last minute for one to come along. Seek out these opportunities to help the less fortunate. You may already have your favorite charities in mind. In our church alone we donate Thanksgiving Baskets to the Council of Social Concern and provide Christmas gifts through our Mitten Tree Project. There may still be time to sign up for a Thanksgiving Basket and watch for the Mitten Tree Project beginning the Sunday following Thanksgiving.