Smiles replaced worried looks on the faces of Mustang firefighters last week as residents rallied to ensure hundreds of area children would not wake to find they had been forgotten this Christmas.
Last week, firefighters sent out a call for help, saying Santa's Toy Shoppe, which annually delivers toys to children whose families are struggling, was facing record need. Not only had more than 900 children been identified as needing help in Mustang, Yukon and Piedmont, but the tough economy had sent donations plummeting and one-time contributor, the Salvation Army, was no longer providing any real financial support.
It seemed this Christmas a lot of young hearts would be broken.
Then, something happened.
It came not from one hand or delivered by one truck. Instead, it came in a tide — piles of presents delivered to the fire station by people who understood the meaning of Christmas is not contained in a holiday banner or found on a GPS screen or in a playlist on an iPod, but in the unselfish acts of trying to help our others who need help.
Mustang-area residents have responded many times this holiday season.
Just look at the Kiwanis Food Pantry, which throughout this year, has faced tremendous demand from families needing help to buy groceries. Groups from Mustang's schools, local churches and Scouts have all donated either food or their time to help the pantry. Those donations will mean many in our community will enjoy a Christmas feast.
I can't say if every local child that needed help has gotten it this Christmas, but I can tell you that a lot of people tried to make it happen. Mustang is not defined by its city limits or by its neighborhoods. It is defined by the acts of residents who pull together and help one another when the chips are down.
It is important to remember that many of our neighbors will continue to struggle long after the Christmas tree is taken down. Let us pledge to keep the spirit alive in 2010.
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Some may not be aware of how public investment is making a difference in people's lives here in Mustang.
Recently, Librarian Desiree Webber spoke about how an unemployed Mustang man visited the library each day with briefcase in hand. He would sit down at a computer and begin his work day that would take the form of searching out employment opportunities online.
The man worked at the task for months and finally landed a job. He thanked the library staff for having the computer available for him.
It would not have been possible had library supporters and city officials not seen the potential in the library and its services. We should be proud.
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Hundreds of Mustang families took advantage of the recent events at Town Center including the 2009 Festival of the Trees and Breakfast with Santa. As in years past, both were great events that put a lot of smiles on the faces of young and old alike. Parks Director Justin Battles, Jean Heasley, their staff and families are the workhorses behind these events. Too often, we take such events for granted because we have gotten used to top-flight services from Town Center. We need to thank them for their outstanding efforts.
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Twelve months ago the federal government under President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson were racing to channel about $700 billion into Wall Street to keep some of the country's largest banks and investment houses afloat as the subprime mortgage mess threatened to gut the economy.
Many on Wall Street were succumbing to the toxic assets created through the greed surrounding subprime mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. Such securities were sought after and traded by financial firms because they had better rates of return than safer investments such as U.S. Treasury bonds. The problem was that many of these mortgages were given to people who could not qualify for traditional mortgages because of poor credit or low incomes. They were getting into homes they simply could not afford.
As mortgage defaults began, the subprime mortgage house of cards collapsed, and this sudden drop in value meant many financial institutions were facing financial ruin. Fearing what could happen, U.S. government officials rode to the rescue. Now, Americans from janitors to lawyers to single mothers were on the hook for the Wall Street gambling debts. Hard-earned tax dollars were going to prop up institutions described as “too big to fail.” As President Obama embraced TARP, it became clear many of those who got us into this mess would pay little for their mistakes.
Now a few months later, we see some of these same companies reporting strong earnings — many because they were buoyed by tax dollars. Now for most of us, receiving such help would be a cause to reflect, to be humbled by our failures and our arrogance. But that is not the case on Wall Street. Instead, billions in bonuses are being paid to officers of financial institutions who just last year tried to gamble the American economy away.
According to an article in USA Today, the New York State Comptroller's office estimates Wall Street executives will receive about $23.9 billion in bonuses this holiday.
It is reprehensible.
I believe in free enterprise and the free market, but there is a difference between making a dollar and stealing one.
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Merry Christmas.
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Jones is general manager and editor of the Mustang News.