With Christmas just on the horizon, folks throughout Monroe County have begun to display tremendous generosity as they help their neighbors during the season of giving.

This spirit of charity has already been seen in the past few weeks with a number of Thanksgiving acts of kindness – particularly the Rau-Athon providing fundraising assistance for one family and the Waterloo Lions Club hosting the annual Share the Feast to make sure everyone got the chance to enjoy a holiday meal.

For those in the community with gifts and food to spare, there are ample opportunities to make sure everyone in the county can have a pleasant Christmas as well.

Monroe County House of Neighborly Service in downtown Waterloo has once again come to serve as a major hub for holiday charity in the area.

Always providing support for folks in the community who need assistance, the HNS pantry recently received a much-needed holiday resupply thanks to local Boy Scouts and their Scouting for Food program.

HNS Executive Director Natalie Kawalec voiced thanks for area scouts while also speaking about the Holiday Hand Up program, the organization’s annual adopt-a-family effort to make sure all households in the county can enjoy the holidays.

The program comes to a head this week as families come together in Waterloo, Columbia, Valmeyer and Prairie du Rocher to collect donations made over the past few weeks.

Kawalec offered a positive summary of this year’s program, with the number of families requesting assistance this year coming fairly close to the number of donors.

The number of families aided this year came in at roughly 180, slightly down from last year’s 190.

She noted the number tends to fluctuate year to year, with some families returning while others come and go and others need some gentle nudging to accept the help that’s eagerly awaiting them.

“We’ve had families that no longer need us,” Kawalec said. “They’re doing a lot better, which is, of course, what we want to see. But then we also have new families, too. There have also been families that we had to reach out and actually ask them… They don’t want to ask for the help, which I completely understand, but we have donors and money to help out.”

Kawalec stressed how much effort goes into putting the Holiday Hand Up and other charity activity together, thanking HNS volunteers for helping with family matching, organizing donations and all the other vital parts of the organization’s work.

She similarly thanked the community for demonstrating such generosity, with a great many donation drop-offs and the donation of 100 hams each from the Waterloo Odd Fellows and CleanCar Express.

Kawalec also offered a small glimpse into what this kind of generosity can mean for those who need a boost at this time of year.

“I’ve already had tears today from a family that was able to come pick up,” Kawalec said. “This is one of my favorite programs just to be able to witness that, how generous our community is in helping our families out.”

While the Holiday Hand Up program has wrapped up as of publication, Kawalec noted HNS is always looking for support in the form of volunteering as well as food or monetary donations.

To contact HNS, call 618-939-8900.

While HNS is particularly active at this time of year as one of the area’s largest charitable organizations, other groups are also busy spreading holiday cheer and charity.

With the Waterloo Rotary Club, Mark Altadonna spoke about the club’s annual Tree of Lights program, which regularly provides support to HNS, Human Support Services, the Waterloo High School Wellness Program and a number of charities in the area such as St. Vincent de Paul Society.

Altadonna noted the group actually establishes who will receive the donations come January – though he anticipates the aforementioned usual recipients will be among them.

Last year, he said, Tree of Lights managed to accrue roughly $46,000. He voiced hopes that the community will be able to meet and exceed that figure as, early last week, the number stood at around $25,000.

Speaking generally about the campaign, he noted the club handles Tree of Lights expenses, amounting to around $1,500 each year, to make sure all donations can go to good causes in the community.

He further emphasized the program is all about donating to local charities that help local people.

“We’ve been doing it since 1991 and have collected a little over $1.1 million to date on the campaign,” Altadonna said. “Since we’ve been doing it so long, we’ve got it down-pat. There seems to be increased need all the time. Fundraising, I think everybody will agree, this business has become more difficult. We’re trying to do as much good as we can with what we’ve got to work with.”

Those looking to donate to the Tree of Lights can contribute via a check made payable to “Waterloo Rotary TOL” and sent to State Bank at P.O. Box 148 in Waterloo.

In both Waterloo and Columbia, the police departments have also made a tradition out of helping those in need.

The Columbia Police Department has again organized the Columbia Caring for Our Community program, collecting donations to support families in the community with a particular emphasis on purchasing toys.

Columbia Police Chief Jason Donjon noted the program also helps with other forms of assistance, namely providing gift cards and food as needed.

Kelly Landgraf, a teacher at Columbia Middle School, also spoke about the program, having played a major role in helping it run smoothly for about a decade now.

She spoke about how folks reach out each year with a list of needs and wants for Christmas. This year, the program will be supporting nine families during the season.

Landgraf discussed the effort with a passion stemming from her career as a teacher, stressing how her hopes and support for Columbia’s students extends beyond the classroom.

“I think, as a teacher, you’re more than that,” Landgraf said. “You want to make sure that they have their basic needs as well as having a magical Christmas, and I think that’s what we want to provide for kids… that we’re able to give them a magical Christmas. Seeing the kids at school, it means so much just because the community is so giving, and they always wanna help.”

She further noted how the program also serves as a support for parents, providing them the chance to make sure their children have the Christmas they deserve.

Folks looking to contribute to this campaign can drop off donations at the Columbia Police Department.

Now concluded, the Waterloo Police Department organized its Operation Blue Santa campaign, long known as the Shop with a Cop program.

WPD Officer Chad Harris, who helped oversee the program, spoke about how things come together each year thanks to generous donations from the community – particularly those from a handful of local businesses.

This year, 15 kids were able to enjoy breakfast followed by a visit to Walmart alongside an officer who helped them check things off a holiday wishlist.

Harris noted how the program serves to both improve the holidays for several Waterloo kids while also helping them become more familiar with the officers who serve them throughout the year.

“As a police officer, programs like this are incredibly important because they allow us to build genuine, positive relationships with children in our community outside of responding to emergency situations,” Harris said. “It helps kids get a chance to see officers as mentors, helpers and regular people.”

Still more charity events and programs are taking place in the lead-up to Christmas.

Monroe County EMS is again organizing its Toys for Tots program, with a big drop-off event accepting both cash and unwrapped toy donations taking place at Walmart this Saturday, Dec. 14, from 9 a.m. to noon. Donations can also be made at the Monroe County Courthouse, Bank of Monroe County in Waterloo, State Bank in both Waterloo and Valmeyer and a number of other locations in the county until Dec. 15.

For more information and a full list of drop-off locations, visit the Monroe County EMS Facebook page.

The Waterloo Optimist Club is once again hosting its Giving Tree at Outsider Tavern. Donations can be made at the bar to appear on the tree.

Folks can also contribute to Harlan’s Third Annual Toy Drive, a fundraising effort for St. Louis Children’s Hospital accepting new toys, books and other donations at Waterloo Animal Hospital, Ace’s Wild, Khoury Pharmacy, Three Tails and Sunset Overlook through Dec. 16.

Still another charitable effort is taking place at the Monroe County YMCA, with the Angel Tree Drive offering the opportunity to sponsor an angel and provide a gift by Dec. 15.

Following a successful Thanksgiving donation drive – 225 families served – organizers with Hope Food Pantry are asking for $25 Walmart or Schnucks gift cards for pantry families to purchase a ham or turkey for Christmas. 

The pantry has a goal of 250 gift cards.

Donations will be accepted through Dec. 17 at 9273 Coach Stop Road.