Regarding America

Rooms for the Homeless

By Daniel Hamon

According to the Columbus Dispatch, fifteen homeless people in Colorado Springs will be inside for Christmas, thanks to a mysterious donor who paid for their motel rooms. The donor, a woman that said her name was Linda Craft, paid in advance for four rooms insisting that they be used to provide shelter to some of the homeless campers that have been gathering near Interstate 25.

As reported by The Gazette, Maggie Spence, one of the beneficiaries "welcomed the weeklong shelter as an aid in finally kicking the pneumonia she’s been battling for weeks."

Linda Craft is another example of people in America quietly taking the initiative to help their neighbors in need.

America's Gift to Asia

By Daniel Hamon

The Khaleej Times, one of the leading English language newspapers in the United Arab Emirates, recently published an article written by Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, in which he attributes the rise of Asia to America's generosity:

The biggest strategic gift that America has made to the world is to spark the rise of Asia by generously sharing its wisdom and best practices with millions of Asians. It is dangerous to over-simplify history, but some crude facts are undeniable. If the American dream had not been discovered and created, and Europe had continued to dominate world history, Asian societies may not have awoken from centuries of slumber so quickly and smoothly. American generosity saved Asia.

Comforting Trees

By Daniel Hamon

For those who have lost their jobs, hope or faith, Sharon Girulat offers comfort in the form of a Christmas tree:

Two years ago she phoned the owner of a Frosty Farms lot and asked if she could have some leftover trees. They gave her about 50. She and her husband Rollin delivered them, along with decoration kits they made up, to some churches. Last year she called Frosty Farms again, as well as Johnson Brothers tree farm. She got another 50 trees and recruited a few colleagues to help make the deliveries.

This Christmas, 50 turned into 500. Peltzer Pines, which has several farms in Orange County, offered up 350 trees when Sharon came knocking. She put an ad on Craigslist, asking people to sing out if they had lost their job or their hope or their faith, and would find comfort in a Christmas tree.

The Gift of Forgiveness

By Daniel Hamon

Carolyn and Jeffrey Schrock lost their five children, ages 2 through 12, in a car accident in late 2005. Jeffrey was driving with the children when Clifford Helm drove his truck across a median and onto oncoming traffic, crashing into Schrock's vehicle. It is not clear what caused Helm to lose control of his truck in this way. There was no evidence of alcohol in his blood.