Winter weather woes appeal to our hearts

THERE’S a sudden chill in the air that, along with the rains that have fallen, tell us that the onset of winter has arrived.

And while some might enjoy the cooler weather that follows our traditionally scorching summers, for many this is not a time of year they welcome with any thankfulness.

Those who wear the same raggedy clothes every day and sleep under makeshift tents in the open fields, or whose bed is a hard surface under any form of shelter they can find will have this apprehension towards winter.

They scrounge for food for themselves and their children, and try to eke a living from selling the discarded items in our dustbins.

Others beg at traffic lights, hoping a kind-hearted Samaritan will spare a few coins or a scrap of food.

And this time of year will see those numbers swell as homeless people from the colder inland provinces make their annual migration to our warmer winter climes.

Poverty and hardship are relative concepts and it’s while looking at these unfortunate ones, perhaps we can be more realistic about counting our blessings.

While the general public complains about how hard times are, and the difficulties of making ends meet, there are some to whom a job, a roof over their heads and any form of heating are sheer luxuries.

There is no need to feel guilty or in some way ashamed that we are privileged enough to enjoy the basic necessities they lack: poverty is what it is, and it’s that sense we cannot be everyone’s saviour.

But we can do the little we are able to, to make life a bit easier for these luckless souls.

We can open our hearts by doing small deeds that, together with those of others, make a significant difference.

Many charitable organisations, including our own Dice (Do I Care Enough?) outreach, will be calling on you, the public, to make some sacrifices on behalf of the poor.

Already the requests for warm clothing and food are flooding in, and while our corporate and business sector unfailingly responds to winter needs, there is no donation too small or insignificant that it will not bless someone’s life.

Beyond a once-off donation, why not get involved in an organisation whose giving is not just seasonal, and which makes a lasting difference?

The public has much to offer charitable institutes, through the unselfish offering of time, money, skills, experience, talent, resources and useful contacts.

Without volunteers and what they bring to the organisation, some non-profit bodies would simply not survive - nor will the people they comfort.