The Pandemic Blues, Part 16: It’s Still ‘A Wonderful Life’

This column, which was published on Christmas Eve 2014, is especially still relevant in 2020, a year when we’ve been depending on --- and needing --- the generosity of others more than ever. (And, yes, NBC will still be showing “It’s A Wonderful Life” on TV at 8 tonight (Channel 10).
This year, some local Christmas traditions changed, or had to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The main gift drives in the Attleboro area --- notably the Christmas Is For Kids in the Attleboro area and Mansfield’s West Side Benevolent Circle efforts --- were still held, albeit with COVID-19 protocols in place, but many other drives only accepted gift cards or cash donations --- no gift-buying by donors.
The area holiday dinners weren’t able to be held in person for Thanksgiving, although some drive-through dinners and some drive-thru pickup dinners were held.
And, speaking of dinners, this Christmas will have a big void locally, as sadly, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the annual Tedesco Memorial Christmas Dinner won’t be held this year for the first time in its 36-year history.
The dinner was originally known as the Ro-Jack’s Christmas Dinner, as it was named after the iconic Attleboro supermarket that sponsored it, thanks to Ro-Jack’s Food Stores owner Jack Hagopian, and the longtime involvement of the Hagopian family.
Ed Tedesco of the South Attleboro Knights of Columbus, a good friend of Jack Hagopian and his wife Rose, for years offered the Knights of Columbus Hall on Highland Avenue (Route 123) in South Attleboro as the location for the dinner, and Tedesco’s family has kept the tradition going since both Tedesco and Hagopian’s deaths in 2003.
The dinner moved to Attleboro High School a few years ago after the Knights sold their building, where it would have been held again in 2020 before it was canceled due to the pandemic.
This column, however, remains a positive lesson in showing that kindness and people helping others always makes a difference --- and that lesson has never been more important to learn than this year, when the list of needy people has risen exponentially due to the economic fallout from COVID-19-related closures.
As people look forward to a new year with some hope that we may finally see the beginning of the end of this horrible pandemic that’s stripped us of our humanity and has killed more than 322,000 Americans, let’s pray that there will be at least a smidgen of hope for all of us in 2021.
Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and have a very Happy and HEALTHY New Year!

This column was published in The Sun Chronicle of Attleboro, MA on Christmas Eve 2014:

“It’s A Wonderful Life” will be featured at 8 tonight on NBC-TV (Channel 10), and millions will tune in because the 1946 movie retains its popularity due to its simple, yet, powerful, premise: That everyone’s life is precious, that regardless of what you do for a living, people can – and do – leave their imprints on others in meaningful ways.
The film, of course, focuses on George Bailey, who several times put his dreams on hold to keep his father’s building and loan company afloat. As a result of his selflessness, residents of Bedford Falls who would have been living in inferior housing, can afford their own homes. But then Uncle Billy loses thousands while trying to make a bank deposit and the movie grows dark. That’s because George doesn’t know that the money “lost” by Uncle Billy was promptly found wrapped in a newspaper by the film’s villain, Mr. Potter, who owns the bank. George therefore thinks he’ll go to jail, a prospect that makes the normally upbeat character grow so despondent that he contemplates taking his life until his guardian angel intervenes. Clarence sets up the central message of the film by granting George’s wish to never have been born, which lets George realize that his “mundane” life has affected thousands.
That lesson is timeless, which is why on Christmas Eve, I’m recognizing people, who like the fictional Bailey, make a big difference to their communities, by awarding my second annual “George Bailey It’s Indeed A Wonderful Life Awards.”
Gift drives
The annual drives, which help thousands, wouldn’t be possible without the long-term dedication of the drives’ organizers and volunteers. The area’s major drives – Christmas Is For Kids and West Side Benevolent Circle – plan months in advance, while the Toys for Tots drives depend heavily on the generosity of businesses and organizations. And the drives in area towns succeed only because people choose to participate. The path to the end result – making Christmas brighter for children and families – may change yearly, but the reason for that success, unbridled dedication to the cause, never changes.
Bishop Feehan’s Santa Shop
Bishop Feehan High School students always outdo themselves, and last Friday, they again channeled the spirit of St. Nicholas by conducting their Santa Shop. This year’s efforts helped 222 families by distributing 4,482 toys donated by families in conjunction with the St. Vincent de Paul Society. “I think it’s a really great way to give back to people who aren’t as fortunate in the community,” said one of those students, junior Francie Grasso.
The operation is run as efficiently as Santa’s factory in the North Pole -- as toys and gifts are seamlessly sent via a human chain to other students to be wrapped and distributed --- and it brings the message of Christmas home. “I get a reality check from this … I think that sometimes we have to take a step back and realize just how lucky we are,” Grasso said.
Santa couldn’t have said it any better.
Providing meals
Bailey awards go to these groups for providing holiday meals:
* Personal Best Karate and its volunteers, whose Turkey Brigade again assembled enough food baskets on the Saturday before Thanksgiving to feed about 2,000 people.
* All of the Food ’n’ Friends Kitchens associated with the Attleboro Area Council of Churches that added Thanksgiving dinners to their pre-holiday meals.
* The Mansfield Friends of the Elderly, who hold a long-running Thanksgiving dinner at the Congregational Church in Mansfield.
* The Attleboro Moose Lodge 463 and the Women of the Moose 974, who again offered their Thanksgiving dinner in Attleboro.
* Christmas dinner organizers – Sisters Sherri Morin, Lois Carroll and Kim Taylor, whose father Edward Tedesco started the dinner 30 years ago – again will serve Christmas dinners for about 150 people at the South Attleboro Knights of Columbus Hall and will arrange for dinners to be delivered to another 250. If their devotion to their father’s cause isn’t worthy of a George Bailey Award, then nothing is.

(Here is a link to a column about the South Attleboro Christmas dinner from Dec. 31, 2002:
https://www.thesunchronicle.com/kessler-christmas-spirit-could-last-all-year/article_35a2e4be-38de-59f8-9778-597e7ecf7329.html)

Other deserving Baileys …
Other deserving Bailey Awards go to:
* The residents of Rubin Drive in Norton, who in trying to support one of their neighbors, Jennifer Gesner, 43, who is battling breast cancer, not only dedicated a neighborhood lights display complete with pink-ribbon lights to her, but raised more than $1,200 for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer organization. Kudos to: the neighbors for taking the time during the hectic Christmas season to help; to those who set up a tent with heaters to give out cookies; and to the donors.  
* Hero Helpers of America founder Lauren Eliopoulous and her legions of loyal volunteers, who continue to do so much for the troops fighting abroad. The group collected thousands of cards to send to the troops, and on Sunday at Splitsville in Patriot Place, more than 1,000 volunteers decorated 4,000 cupcakes for area veterans and active military personnel.
* The youths who joined the Attleboro Area Youth Homeless Awareness Weekend at Mason Field in North Attleboro, which was held Nov. 14-16. More than 100 youths from church youth groups gave up their weekend to collect clothing, food and money for the Attleboro Area Council of Churches' Food ‘n’ Friends program, the Homes with Heart program, as well as soup kitchens, food pantries and homeless shelters.
George Bailey and Clarence both would be proud of all those efforts.