On behalf of the entire Casa de los Niños family, I would like to wish you a warm and rewarding holiday season. Thank you for being a friend.

 If you are anything like me, it feels like we have been fighting an uphill battle for the most of the last year. We have been wrestling with the economy, stressing about budgets, working on the election, worrying about our kids. It’s been a challenging time.  

 A couple of weeks ago, I decided that a lot of those things will still be there in January. Until then, I am reminding myself to look for challenges I might actually be able to solve! 

 I have family members I haven’t heard from for awhile, neighbors I haven’t seen. Are they okay? Is there something I might do to help them enjoy the holidays?    

 I have been thinking about them because here, at Casa de los Niños, we are starting to see families who never dreamed they would need a helping hand. Good and successful people are losing their jobs … their houses … their credit … their hope.

 Thousands of Tucson families are struggling. Many don’t even know where to go – or how to ask – for the support that they need. Are some of them friends of mine? Are some of them neighbors? In the next few weeks, I would suggest we all look for small signs that might actually be a friend’s quiet plea for help.  

 If we are lucky, the fact we are doing well this Holiday Season will give us the chance to do good this Holiday Season. Help a friend. Help a neighbor. Help the children and families we serve at Casa de los Niños. If we all do this right, it will warm us just as surely as would a cup of hot chocolate on Christmas Eve.

  Happy Holidays everyone!