SACRED HEART PARISH 'GIVING TREE' THIS CHRISTMAS.............

One of the Advent customs Christian parishes and congregations have developed during the last several decades is the Christmas Giving Tree.  A tree adorned with gift tags requesting the donation of a particular kind of Christmas present for a less fortunate child or adult are selected from by the parishioners and congregants for distribution to the needy.  My first personal encounter with a Parish Giving Tree was in December 1984, when as a third year seminarian I was assigned to do Pastoral Ministry at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish, in Palo Alto, California.  Since then as the custom has grown, virtually every one of the ten parishes I have served in as a Priest of Jesus Christ has had a Giving Tree in the church during Advent.  Sacred Heart Parish in East Sacramento has an extensive Giving Tree outreach on behalf of the underprivileged in the wider Sacramento community.  The Christmas present requests on the SacHeart Giving Tree are donated to four different groups to bring happiness to needy this Christmas.  They are  1.) Wind Youth Services;  2.) Sacramento Diocesan HIV Ministry; 3.) Arden Villa Senior Citizens Center; 4.) St. Francis Terrace; four of the charities I will be blogging more about this week.  Kudos to conscientious Catholic-Christians and benevolent Humanitarians of all stripes, who Care deeply to fulfill the Call to Love One Another as God Loves us. What will you donate to a Giving Tree in your parish, congregation, or neighborhood, to make this Christmas brighter for someone else this Christmas ?  Many of the gift requests are for food, clothing, or gift cards for like items, making your charitable gifts even more essential and efficacious.  Come Lord Jesus, Come !!!.............fr.tdp