ROTHENBURGER – Do we give to charity at Christmas for the wrong reasons?

‘TIS THE SEASON for giving. And giving.

Charities focus heavily on Christmas, making more money in the couple of months leading up to it than at any other time of year.

We give money at the cash register, drop it into kettles in front of stores, stuff vehicles with packages, give canned food to the food bank and toys to numerous toy collections, fill shoe boxes with basics for the homeless, buy drive-through breakfasts, toss teddy bears and collect pledges for various activities — there seems no end to the creative ways in which charities encourage us to give.

We’re conditioned to give at Christmas. Extending that giving spirit beyond friends and family to needy causes comes naturally. Giving makes us feel warm and fuzzy.

So does that mean we’re actually being self-interested when we give? Are we in it for the recognition and the thanks we receive for doing it rather than for old-fashioned selflessness? A debate between two prominent Kamloops residents broke out on Facebook this week over that issue.

One of them posted several times about taking part in the annual Away Home Campout to End Youth Homelessness, which took place overnight last night at McDonald Park.

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Mel Rothenburger is a regular contributor to CFJC Today, publishes the ArmchairMayor.ca opinion website, and is a recipient of the Jack Webster Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. He has served as mayor of Kamloops, school board chair and TNRD director, and is a retired daily newspaper editor.  He can be reached at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.