WINNEMUCCA - Christmas is a time for traditions among families and groups of friends. We might decorate the family Christmas tree with special decorations, eat a certain side dish or dessert at the family meal, gather for a special church service, or get together with friends to shop for gifts for our children.
Winnemucca residents hoping to establish some new traditions among their family or circle of friends may want to add a service project or activity to their Christmas season.
One option for establishing a family or group tradition based on service is to participate in an activity or project hosted by Winnemucca service organizations.
The Winnemucca Ministerial Association is one of the many local organizations devoted to helping those in need in our community through a variety of programs.
Zerella Buttars is Winnemucca Ministerial Association board member and director of the Winnemucca Food Bank. Buttars noted that many families help pack Christmas food baskets as part of their Christmas observances.
"A lot of families come in and help with the Christmas baskets," she said. "Even the little kids can come and help pack baskets. The kids are really excited to get to go out to the fairgrounds and help put baskets together. They talk about it all year."
The 2013 Christmas baskets will be assembled on Dec. 20-21. Those who cannot make it on either of those days, but would still like to help provide food for those in need may want to establish a tradition of going to the grocery store and buying food for the baskets.
"The baskets provide food for a nice Christmas meal and extra items to sustain the recipient through the Christmas holiday," Buttars explained. "If you would like to donate a ham or a turkey we can keep those frozen, but the rest of the food should be non-perishable."
Non-perishable traditional Christmas foods include canned green beans, corn, peas, or other vegetables, canned yams, and boxes of instant mashed potatoes and stuffing. Canned soups or stews, powdered milk, boxes of macaroni and cheese, and boxed dinner kits can provide post holiday dinners for the person who receives the basket.
The Winnemucca Ministerial Association always welcomes families and other groups to do volunteer work in the thrift store, food bank, or soup kitchen.
"The soup kitchen always needs help cooking and serving," Buttars said.
Teaching others a necessary skill can also become a family tradition.
Bob Shaw is best known as the owner of Computer Tamer on Bridge Street, but Shaw shares his knowledge of technology with his community's senior population free of charge through classes at Pleasant Senior Center.
"We start with a very basic computer class," he explained. "For the first session I brought all the components of a computer in a box and went over what each one does. For the second class we are going to talk about file management, such as what to do when someone sends you a picture, how to save documents, or how to attach a file to an email. They will even learn how to set up an email address."
Shaw explained that he does this type of service to help local seniors remain active and engaged with the world.
"The importance of knowing about computers is connections to friends and family," he said. "On the surface it seems impersonal, but for a lot of people it's their primary connection to friends and family. It may also be someone's primary form of entertainment. They may enjoy visiting the web sites of places they once knew, or learning about places they can't go. One woman in a previous class hadn't seen her daughter's house in ten years. She learned how to find it on Google maps. She had the whole class crying. It's a connection to the world they may not have available anymore."
Shaw urged anyone with computer skills who would like to begin a tradition of helping others learn about them to stop by his business at 201 S. Bridge St. and speak to him about assisting in teaching the current class or any future classes he may hold.
"We can see what your capabilities are and see if we can work you into the program," he said.
Jacy Jackson is the owner of the Winnemucca salon Le French Twiste. Jackson and her daughter, Raven Black, have established a birthday tradition that can be adapted for Christmas.
"On my daughter's 19th birthday, she wanted to do 19 random acts of kindness," Jackson said. She described just some of the acts she and her daughter performed together.
"She plowed a stranger's driveway, bought flowers for someone who had helped her in the past, walked up to a group of girls eating lunch at the Martin and paid for their meal, and paid for a couple's movie tickets. We put the shopping carts away for the employees at Raley's," Jackson said. "She also bought doughnuts and took them to the local police officers, gave flowers to strangers, and bought coffee for people."
While Jackson participated in the acts, she credits her daughter with the project.
"She did this all on her own. It was just fun to do it with her and see her do it," Jackson said, adding that her daughter plans to continue to do random acts of kindness on her birthday again this year.
Jackson noted that a random acts of kindness tradition can be adjusted to suit to any family or group, including those who wish to perform their kindnesses without anyone knowing about it.
"Some of them the people knew she did it, but some of them were anonymous," she said.
Perhaps the best thing about creating a Christmas tradition based on service is that it can be continued once the holiday season has ended. Contact the local organization of your choice for continuing volunteer opportunities, or gather with family and friends to arrange personal service activities for the coming year.
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