During the holiday season it is so easy to get wrapped up in the craziness of it all. There is tons of shopping to do with the pressure of spending money, that lets face it, many of us don’t really have in this declining economy. There is decorating, cooking, baking, holiday card writing, wrapping presents, family gatherings, and office parties. It can all become so overwhelming and even depressing to some people. That is why I wanted to take time out of it all to do something that would put it all into perspective for me, basically show me what the true meaning of the holiday season is.
I had the great privilege of volunteering at the L.A. Food Bank with Alliance for Women In Media and it was the most worthwhile 3 hours I spent on a Saturday morning. More than 1.6 million LA County residents struggle with hunger. The Food Bank’s distribution volume has increased by 62% during the past two years, and they now distribute the equivalent of 800,000 meals every week, so being able to make a small contribution to this worthwhile 
organization meant a lot to me. It also made me realize that all of the superficiality, materialism, and commercialism that over saturates the holiday season really isn’t worth the stress. Our focus can definitely go towards more meaningfulness in our lives like our families, our friends, our church, the poor, the hungry, the children, or something as simple as the abandoned puppy or bunny on the street (yes I have a friend who once 
rescued an abandoned bunny). To me, these are all much more worthwhile and priceless examples of what the holiday spirit is all about. It certainly isn’t about fighting over the last American Girl doll or Xbox 360.
At the L.A. Food Bank I was part of the cereal packing group, which was the beginning of the food packing assembly line. By the end of the day, all of us who volunteered that day helped to pack over 2,000 boxes of food. The L.A. Food Bank said that those boxes would be distributed to elderly people. This made me think about my Abuelita (my grandma) and I thought about how loved she is by all of us, her family, and how we would never let her go without anything she needed. Then I thought about the elderly people who don’t have families to help support them and this made me sad. However, knowing that this food would be going out to those people put a huge smile on my face and that’s worth more than any material gift I will receive this Christmas.
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