Renee, Chris and I were talking about our “For Our Soldiers” program, which has been ongoing since July, 2006. Since our money collection jar was stolen back in December, donations of money and materials have dropped to next to nothing. We cannot put out another collection jar, or box, because of the possibility of theft and damage to the library. Therefore, our collection area will most likely be eliminated. One of us asked the others if we were ready for our efforts to send the care packages to the soldiers to end. I was at a loss for words. Even though we all knew when we began that we could not possibly sustain this for the long haul, the thought of abandoning our soldiers, which is what I feel in my heart we would be doing, felt like a dagger to my heart. All because one person felt the need, during the holiday season, to take the few dollars that our community donated, dollar by dollar, to those who are far away from home, friends and family.

We don’t know how else to continue to receive donations from the kids who threw coins from their allowance into the jar, or the shopper who was in Shop Rite and bought an extra box of granola bars and dropped them into the basket the next time she was in the library. Or the vet who brought in a bunch of decks of playing cards. If you have any thoughts on this, we welcome your suggestions.