Laurels to the donors who have gotten Christmas Happiness to where it is today, with $43,581.25 collected. Unfortunately, that still falls far short of what is needed this year. “For the first time since its start, we will not have adequate funds to cover all the requests for help,” Social Services Director Sandra Wilkes reported Friday. That is sad news. Since 1952, the Post has been collecting donations from readers each Christmas season for Social Services to distribute to qualifying families. The fund has had fluctuations, but this is the first time it has not been able to help all those who qualified. “We can serve all those who applied through Dec. 3,” Wilkes said, “but we do not have enough to serve those who applied on the last day, Dec. 4.” That would require another $10,000. Fewer people are in a position to give this year. When the late Spencer Murphy initiated Christmas Happiness in 1952, his editorial bore the headline, “Looking for a miracle.” A lot of families will be doing just that this Christmas.
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Laurels to a statistic that reflects well on North Carolina and our public education system. The state once again leads the nation in the number of teachers who have earned certification by the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards. North Carolina has 15,695 teachers who have met that goal. They make up 19 percent of the 83,359 National Board Certified teachers in the country. That is phenomenal. Five N.C. school districts are in the nation’s top 20 in the number of teachers who have achieved National Board Certification: Wake County, second, with 1,702; Charlotte-Mecklenburg, fifth, with 1,439; Guilford, 11th, with 592; Forsyth, 18th with 413, and Buncombe, 20th with 371. These teachers’ enthusiasm, skill and experience are priceless assets.
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Laurels to the snow. It appeared Friday afternoon that the forecasts had erred and we might only get rain. But the snow came later; it came just the same, as the Grinch would say. Don’t let icy roads steal your Christmas spirit by causing a crash. Drive slowly, leave yourself plenty of room to stop and brake gently to avoid skidding. Keep your lights on and your windshield clean. Be “especially careful on bridges, overpasses and infrequently traveled roads, which will freeze first,” advise the experts at the Weather Channel. And don’t think you can disregard all the warnings because you have a four-wheel-drive vehicle; they seem to be the ones found most often in the ditch. This is a time for caution, not over-confidence.