The holiday season approaches and thoughts turn to those who have little to look forward to, who have lost hope, who think no one cares, and who are in the throes of homelessness, illness, abandonment, hunger, or despair. This time of year often brings more fragility than usual to these members of the family of man; and it is a time of year when the Heartfelt Foundation seeks to find those who may have been overlooked.
Our projects of service during the 2003 holidays are:

November 22 Thanksgiving Service Project, L.A.
December 20 Christmas/Holiday Service Project, L.A.
December 20-24 Christmas/Holiday Service Projects, Worldwide

As the Spirit of love, peace, and brotherhood settles down over our planet during this special time, we encourage you to look around and reach out wherever you find the greatest need. It might be by becoming involved with an already scheduled Heartfelt service project in your area, it could be by creating a Heartfelt service project for your community, and it may be a simple act of loving applied where there is pain.
To quote our Board President, John-Roger, in an article taken from his forthcoming book, Fulfilling Your Spiritual Promise:
“Through feeling the pain of others, we can become more compassionate and be moved to assist. When it is in your power to ease another’s pain, do that. This would be with the people directly in your life, the people you are around, and sometimes that could be just being friendly and speaking kindly, offering someone a ride, listening with acceptance to someone talk, putting yourself in another’s shoes. You may also, of course, feel called to assist others beyond your immediate sphere.”
As an example, I wanted to share with you part of a letter we recently received from a young New England mother and her family that reached out for help to Heartfelt last Christmas, and how their lives were lifted:

Dear Heartfelt,

Last Christmas we were in complete desperation. Having four children, all believing in Santa, I asked Heartfelt for help. I didn’t know where to turn, except that it was getting close to Christmas, and I also didn’t know how to tell my four children (ages 6,7,8, and 9) how broke Santa was this year. Months before, my husband had a lay-off at work and although he was back to work, he was trying to catch us up on the bills. All the while, we had our phone shut off, and heating oil was outrageous, and we just did not qualify for financial help because he was re-employed.

I emailed you, asking for some help so the children would have a great holiday. You put us in contact with Lisa Boone, a wonderful source of encouragement. She, with her helpers and husband, went out of her way to please our entire family so that the children had a fantastic Christmas party and gifts on Christmas Eve ( in care of the North Pole); and helped us to hide other wonderful presents so that the kids had things to open on Christmas morning.

The first thing Lisa did, that was sooooo amazing, was come through the door with reindeer antlers on and as she spotted one of my children, she said “You must be Michael.” My son’s face lit up brighter than the Christmas tree lights!!!!!!! He knew that Santa was sending helpers over, but didn’t expect that the helper knew his name!! It was remarkable and went so wonderfully!! Lisa also arranged for an emergency shipment of heating fuel to be delivered to our home, which kept us going through the coldest winter months.

We were truly blessed and want to thank you all at Heartfelt for everything you do. You brightened up our year and gave us the holiday spirit we were shying away from during difficult times. Please share my sincere thanks and love with everyone. Lisa brightened up our hardships in December. I hope some day we are lucky enough to do that same thing for another family.

Love and Blessings,
D. & J. C.

So you just never know how you will be used to uplift or change someone’s life this holiday season. Whatever comes to you, we hope you’ll have a wonderful time and share your experiences with us, if you’re so moved.
We, the Board of Directors, Advisory Board, staff, and volunteer teams of the Heartfelt Foundation wish each one of you a blessed and grace-filled holiday season and a New Year filled with peace and brotherhood.

In Loving Service,

Patti Rayner