Private Story
giving back
The Monroe Times
The holiday season is often a time for excitement, especially for school-aged kids looking forward to Christmas break. The week off can also be stressful, though, for kids who rely on the food they would normally receive while at school.
Serving the community for more than seven decades, the Monroe Christmas Stocking Fund (MCSF) continues to address this gap firsthand by collecting donations and preparing food boxes for local families. Miguel Aragon, a 2021 graduate of Monroe High School, knows firsthand the impact of those special deliveries.
“It always puts me in a great mood whenever I see those boxes or bags at people’s doorsteps,” said Aragon. “This makes me feel happier knowing that there are still people out there who genuinely care about their fellow human beings without expecting anything in return.”
Aragon, now 19, remembers seeing the big box from MCSF outside of his house as a kid. “I helped carry it in and we were always excited to see what was in them each year,” he said.
The Christmas Stocking project was started by women in the Monroe Woman’s Club but is a separate entity, said Sue Armstrong. Armstrong, along with Cindy Ditter, serves as the publicity co-chair. “We coordinate with Woman’s Club, but we have our own separate committee that has branches of publicity, finance, callers, cheer box people, food box people, etc.,” she said.
The fund distributes food boxes to families in need, with the help of volunteers and monetary donations.
As an MCSF recipient, Aragon’s family received boxes with different types of food, including groceries like eggs, milk and cheese. “It was also nice to get some samplers of different kinds of foods or pastries,” said Aragon. The part he remembers most was the surprise of a box showing up at the family’s door.
According to the Monroe Christmas Stocking Fund Facebook page, this year’s boxes “will contain more ‘easy to prepare’ foods that kids can access during their Christmas break.”
Armstrong said that, over the past few years of the pandemic, the need for volunteers has decreased, as shoppers and food box packers/deliverers are no longer part of the process.
“Big changes!,” she said. “But the community has been more than generous with monetary donations.”
This year’s food boxes will be picked up by recipients on Dec. 16 and 17.
Once a recipient of community support through MCSF, Aragon now gives back to the community by serving as an ESL (English as a Second Language) aide at Monroe Middle School. He assists students in learning English and ensures they can “comprehend the same content” as their native English-speaking peers.
He found the opportunity with MMS during what he describes as a “dark time” in his life and was excited to join a staff and environment that he already knew.
“This job has allowed me to get really close to the community and has really opened my eyes to how much of a necessity it is to develop programs to help in educating this student demographic,” said Aragon. “I will say that this job has even saved my life.”
The empathy shown to Aragon as a child — and that which he shows to MMS students each day — is a quality central to the work of the Monroe Christmas Stocking Fund.
Those interested in donating to the Fund can do so via the link on their Facebook page.
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