{"id":259,"date":"2014-12-12T11:03:49","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T17:03:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/?p=259"},"modified":"2022-06-07T14:13:08","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T19:13:08","slug":"the-best-gift-of-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faithhopeandfiction.com\/content\/the-best-gift-of-all\/","title":{"rendered":"The Best Gift of All"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dallas Woodburn<\/a><\/h3>\n
Essay<\/h5>\n

D<\/span> uring the holiday season, it sometimes seems like the whole world is wrapped up in presents and material possessions.\u00a0Kids are writing their wish lists to Santa, adults are trying to find the \u201cperfect gift\u201d for their special someone, and mall parking lots are jam-packed with eager shoppers.\u00a0I had always been just as guilty as the next person of harboring this fraudulent yuletide spirit, until a few years ago when I learned what the holiday season is truly about.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For as long as I can remember, my parents have tried to instill the spirit\u00a0of\u00a0giving in my brother and me.\u00a0Every year, we stop by the local fire station and drop off two brand new basketballs, one from each\u00a0of\u00a0us, for their annual toy drive.\u00a0It always makes me smile to think\u00a0of\u00a0the special holiday we\u2019re giving a few kids, and I like to picture them happily dribbling their new basketballs all\u00a0year long.<\/p>\n

Eventually, my dad went even further and started his own Holiday Ball Drive to collect sports balls for children.\u00a0He figured sports balls don\u2019t break, don\u2019t need batteries, and stand a chance to last\u00a0all\u00a0year long.\u00a0He is a sports columnist and informed the public about his project through his newspaper column.\u00a0He has now collected and donated thousands of new sports balls to less-fortunate kids.<\/p>\n

I always enjoyed helping him collect, sort, and distribute the sports balls.\u00a0It gave me a great deal\u00a0of\u00a0satisfaction to think I helped so many kids have a little-bit-brighter Christmas.\u00a0So, following my dad\u2019s example, I decided I would start a project\u00a0of\u00a0my own.\u00a0I have always loved to read and write, so it was only natural that I would hold a book drive for my community.\u00a0After all, toys get broken and clothes get outgrown–but the magic\u00a0of\u00a0books lasts forever.\u00a0Think about it: have you ever met a person who doesn\u2019t\u00a0vividly remember their favorite book as a kid?\u00a0Or someone who can\u2019t think\u00a0of\u00a0at least one book, that one special book, that suddenly, for an instant, brought the world into focus, clicked their mind into gear, helped shape who they are?<\/p>\n

Books are a common thread that links us\u00a0all together.<\/p>\n

With my dad\u2019s help, I passed out flyers to local bookstores and schools, and made a website (www.writeonbooks.org<\/a>) with essay contests, reading lists, author interviews, and details about how to donate to my cause.\u00a0That first year I collected 126 books, which I gave to the local library to distribute to underprivileged children.<\/p>\n

The happiness I felt was brighter than\u00a0all\u00a0the Christmas lights in my city when I saw that one smile on the librarian\u2019s face–a stranger\u2019s face–as I gave her the box\u00a0of\u00a0books I had collected. Happier than any present has ever made me.\u00a0Happier than I have ever felt giving my friends and family the \u201cperfect gifts\u201d I spent hours searching for.\u00a0I didn\u2019t know who would receive the books, but I knew they would be appreciated.\u00a0I had the distinct feeling that I really helped make a positive difference–if not in the world, at least in my little community, and I tried to hold it inside me to savor, because that is one\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0best\u00a0feelings in the world.<\/p>\n

Eleven years later, I still relish that feeling. I have now collected and distributed more than 13,000 new books to underprivileged kids in my community. My annual Holiday Book Drive has not only given books to disadvantaged children–just as important, it has shown them people care.\u00a0I have also found that many, many people want to help others, but often don\u2019t know how.\u00a0My book drive has given them a way. From a one-person effort it has evolved into an entire community\u00a0of volunteers, including forty student helpers, with collection boxes at local bookstores, post offices, and fourteen area schools. I have learned that together, we can help give sad tales a happier storyline.<\/p>\n

Shortly after Christmas, in January 2003, my dad was driving home from covering the Super Bowl in San Diego when his car was rear-ended by a drunk-driver. Dad was driving through the parking lot on the way out\u00a0of\u00a0the stadium, pausing before making a right-hand turn, when the drunk driver, going sixty mph, slammed into his Honda Civic–skid marks trailed back for fifty meters along the asphalt. The Honda was totaled, but blessedly Dad walked away from the terrible wreck. He did, however, have to undergo painful spinal fusion disk surgery, and today suffers from neck pain and numbness in his fingers. Still, my family feels very fortunate that he is alive.<\/p>\n

When news about Dad\u2019s accident spread among our hometown community, words of comfort and sympathy and prayer poured in from neighbors, friends, former teachers and classmates–even some people we had never met before but had collected balls for Dad\u2019s sports ball drive or received books for my book drive. Suddenly kids who I had given books to were giving back to me, literally–cards and letters and drawings that brought tears to my eyes. When I was laying the groundwork for my foundation to give back to others, I never realized that I was also laying a safety net\u00a0of\u00a0friends and supporters beneath me, to help me my own through difficult or scary times.<\/p>\n

Indeed, while my Holiday Book Drive is a project that helps countless other people, it really is my own Christmas present to myself–and the\u00a0gift\u00a0I most look forward to every year. Dad taught me the old adage is true: giving really is better than receiving,\u00a0and selfless giving will come back to you in ways you never would have imagined.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Dallas Woodburn<\/strong> is a 2013 — 14 Steinbeck Fellow in Creative Writing at San Jose State University. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, she won second place in the American Fiction Prize and her work is forthcoming in\u00a0American Fiction Volume 13: The Best Unpublished Short Stories by American Writers\u00a0(New Rivers Press). Her short story collection was a finalist for the 2012 Flannery O\u2019Connor Award for Short Fiction and her work has appeared in The Nashville Review, The Los Angeles Times, Louisiana Literature, Monkeybicycle, and Ayris, among others. In addition, her plays have been produced in Los Angeles and New York City. Woodburn blogs frequently at daybydaymasterpiece.com<\/a>, where she recently chronicled her “Year of Kindness” challenge to complete 52 unique random acts of kindness over the course of a year. Connect with her at www.writeonbooks.org<\/a>.<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dallas Woodburn Essay uring the holiday season, it sometimes seems like the whole world is wrapped up in presents and material possessions.\u00a0Kids are writing their wish lists to Santa, adults are trying to find the \u201cperfect gift\u201d for their special someone, and mall parking lots are jam-packed with eager shoppers.\u00a0I had always been just as 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