Having enough

I had a dream last night that I had a carload of clothes and toys and everywhere I went, they said they had enough. I'm sure the dream came off my conversations in the last couple of days about how to help people in need.
I've had several press releases in the last couple of days from Hearts With Hands, the Salvation Army, Santa Pal, The ARC and Eblen Charities. All of them talk about the need and how it's greater than ever because people's wages aren't rising as fast as fuel costs, health care costs and food costs. Hundreds -- no, thousands -- of families in Western North Carolina face no Christmas celebration this year.
I met a man on Wednesday who has been homeless for several years. He was friendly and eager to have someone sit down and talk to him. He would love a place to live but he can't work because he has two disintegrating vertebrae in his back and he can't get approved for disability. Maybe he's an alcoholic, I don't know. He was sober when I talked to him. Even so, he doesn't deserve to sleep in the cold.
I talked to a woman who collects new socks and distributes them to homeless people because she was homeless for several years and she knows the value of clean, warm socks.
The needs are there all year long; we just hear more about them as Christmas approaches.
One friend of mine gives her daughter just three gifts for Christmas because that's all Jesus got.
I've always liked to adopt a family and provide Christmas for them. I like it best when the family doesn't know who donated the gifts.
What I'd really like, though, is to see the need diminish. That could happen if everyone who works hard was paid a living wage. In most cities in America today, someone has to work more than two full-time jobs at minimum wage to make a living wage, while the rich are getting richer. We in the middle are being squeezed toward the bottom.
If we work for a more just America, maybe there will be a day when I can drive around with a carload of clothes and toys and no one will need them.