As many of us shop for presents for our family, friends and loved ones this Christmas season, we also anticipate receiving presents from many of our loved ones.

For a large segment of society, however, the prospects of giving and receiving are not as bright this Christmas season.

For whatever reason, many Miss-Lou families will not be able to provide Christmas trees, much less presents for the children this season.

For others, the hardship is not just at Christmastime. For whatever reasons, health or monetary, they may not have adequate housing or even be able to feed themselves or their families.

Fortunately, many people and organizations throughout the Miss-Lou work hard to make sure others are taken care of, not only in the Christmas season but also year-round.

Those volunteers, whether working with Toys for Tots, the Stewpot, Habitat for Humanity or numerous other charitable organizations, recognize the need and are willing to give of their time and effort to make life better for the least among us — many of those volunteers work not just at Christmastime but year-round.

We applaud their selfless actions for taking care of our neighbors in need.

We also encourage you to consider helping those charitable organizations out this Christmas season and year-round in whatever way you can, whether by donating monetarily or by volunteering your time.

As the apostle Paul related in Acts 20:35, Jesus Christ said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

And, that is the true spirit of Christmas.

Today we launch our annual Season of Wishes series. Beginning today, we’ll publish the story of a local non-profit in each edition of The Democrat; included with each article will be information on what the charity needs most and how you can help.