It’s time for a mad dash.

No, not the Black Friday kind of rush for a limited-production toy to put under the Christmas tree. This mad dash does, however, have everything to do with Christmas and what will be under the tree — if there even is one.

As of today, there is just one week left in the Operation Holiday Heroes community effort. Seven days. It’s not much time, and there is a long way to go.

With the coffers standing at a skinny tick over $4,000 now, the goal of $7,500 seems daunting — but it’s not unreachable.

Why are we shooting for $7,500? That’s easy. When April Snead at Scotland County Department of Social Services told us they had received 67 applications from local families in need, each one hoping to benefit from the Operation Holiday Heroes program, we knew that represented about 150 children who might not have much of a Christmas.

Doing a little quick math, we estimated $50 per child and came up with the goal of $7,500.

Listen, y’all know that $50 isn’t going to go far. Whether it be clothes or toys or even food, $50 would barely dent most people’s receipt. But for someone who isn’t used to shopping without counting pennies, $50 is huge.

With $4,000 or so, about 80 Scotland County children will have a merrier Christmas. But, of course, we want more.

This isn’t us doing this be any stretch. And it’s not our community partners — ‘Tis the Season as DSS — doing this. We are just the messengers and collectors. Operation Holiday Heroes is all about YOU. It’s YOUR Money. It’s YOUR compassion. YOU are the heroes here.

But there remains more work to be done.

We can’t say thank-you enough to all of those who have already contributed. Your dollars will be turned into gift cards, which will be turned into … well, joy in the form of a Christmas miracle for a local family.

We also can’t emphasize enough that our hope over the next several days will be that our area businesses, large and small, will find a way to contribute monetarily, large or small. We firmly believe that, if they do, we will soar past the goal of $7,500 so even more families get assistance.

You can read more about Operation Holiday Heroes on Page 1A today. It will also tell you how to contribute. The amount is up to you, but understand that ANY amount will go to a worthy cause. We would urge you to give it some serious thought and even pray on it first.

We do hope that, throughout the next week, we will be adding your name or the name of a loved one to our daily list of Holiday Heroes.

The mad dash to the finish is underway, but in advance and on behalf of the children you will supply with Christmas cheer … thank you so much.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“There are 100 reasons not to give of yourself, but the one reason to do it far outweighs all of them.”