I need some money. Right! Don’t we all!

No, I’m serious, I need you to send me some money.

Readers might think I’m completely insensitive, out of touch or just plain crass to be asking for money. But I’m compelled to beg this year when money is about as tight as most people can remember.

Believe me, I know you don’t have what you did last year. I was reminded of this the other evening when I looked at a personal financial statement and had to double check with my wife, “Have we really lost this much?” “Yes,” was the response I did not want to hear.

Still I come to our readers this year and ask for some help for The Tablet’s annual Bright Christmas Appeal, which helps buy gifts for poor children at Christmas. Many of these kids will receive no other gift at Christmas.

For more than 40 years, The Tablet has run its Bright Christmas Appeal. Last year alone we sent almost $125,000 directly to parishes and social service agencies so that they could do something for those in their care.

If you think you’ve got it bad this Christmas, there are plenty of others who are in worse shape. I am reminded of this by some of the recent letters that I have received from those who have been recipients of our readers’ generosity in the past.

For instance, Sister Mary of the Angelus, director of religious education at Mary Mother of the Church parish in East New York, writes, “We ask if it is possible that you remember us again this year with your Tablet’s Bright Christmas Fund. Your contribution will help abundantly to fill our children with the joy and hope of Christmas, in a time that so needs a bit more joy and hope.

“We have 250 children this year ranging from kindergarten age, just beginning to learn the faith, to teenagers preparing for Confirmation. We are planning several events for our children to participate in this year; our annual Christmas play, a Christmas party during class, and our usual Three Kings celebration, in which we would like to give the children gifts to remind them of Our Lord’s Divinity and His Incarnation.”

Sister Maria de Jesus Doliente, director of religious education at St. Michael - St. Malachy, East New York, writes, “As you know, our parishes St. Michael and St. Malachy have merged due to economic reasons. Because of this, we hope to once again count on your generosity so that we can celebrate Christmas with the children in Catechism.”

Anthony Butler, who directs St. John’s Bread and Life in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the largest soup kitchen in Brooklyn, explains, “This year, we will provide toys and a Christmas meal with all the trimmings, to over 2,000 families in the community. None of this would be possible without you who recognize this time of action – this time when transcendence becomes imminent in the form of a needy family.”

To encourage your generosity, we will send to everyone who donates $25 or more a “Keep Christ in Christmas” wristband as long as the supply lasts. The wristbands were donations from the Knights of Columbus at Archbishop Hughes Council in Dyker Heights.

Knight Camillo Casano and Grand Knight Anthony Vesco stopped by The Tablet’s office the other day and dropped off about 400 wristlets. The Knights have long been advocates of the “Keep Christ in Christmas” campaign and the wristbands are a great way to constantly remind us and our friends that it’s Christmas, not the holidays, that we celebrate.

To participate in Bright Christmas, please send your donation to Bright Christmas, c/o The Tablet, 310 Prospect Park West, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11215.
Our annual Bright Christmas mailing is going out late this year, so please don’t wait for the solicitation to respond.