On the Side of Angels

Lights, please. Every year Linus van Pelt asks for a spotlight and steps right in to quote the gospel of Luke and remind Charlie Brown that Christmas is not a time for fear, but of “good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” To all people, the angels said, came a child.

Every year since Nineteen Thirty-Eight, the volunteers of the Vineyard’s Red Stocking Fund, working mostly without any spotlight, play the angels, bringing tidings of joy — the joy of “something warm to wear, something good to eat and something fun to play with” — to people on the Island. They quietly vet applications, checking with schools and other references to be sure the need for their help is genuine. And there seems to be plenty of real need. Just this week, the United States Census Bureau released its income and poverty estimates, showing that nearly one hundred children in our Island schools lived in poverty last year.

Island parents may find themselves short of money for clothes and toys and a Christmas tree because their rent and utilities bills have gone up, because they have been laid off or had their work hours cut, their clients have stopped spending, their car has broken down, they have experienced medical problems, their children need braces, their aging parents need money or expensive services, or they’re helping friends and family who have hit hard times. Only a couple of Red Stocking workers know the identity of most recipients.

Lately an undercurrent of fear and anger has crept into some Islanders who once supported this charity. Online in particular, these people make a point of their belief that some children Red Stocking helps are undeserving. The criticism is not always subtle: Brazilian children (often lumped all together as so-called illegal children) ought not receive charity, apparently because of the misdoings of some Brazilian parents, maybe theirs. These critics, ironically, accuse recipient parents of teaching their children poor values. The fund does not discriminate except by need and does not accept donations which discriminate.

The child lying in a manger some two thousand years ago went on to preach the values of charity and mercy, and to tell stories about good Samaritans caring for the defenseless and prodigal sons being welcomed. And Red Stocking is on the side of those heralding angels, promising goodwill toward all.