Editorial: With Believe Project, holiday spirit runs through January

A pseudoscientific study commissioned by a travel agency to boost winter trip planning resulted in the third Thursday of January being called Blue Monday.

It figures in the depressing factors of lousy weather, holiday debt and failed New Year's resolutions.

It's natural that day also would be a Monday.

So perhaps with all those factors at play this week, especially the weather, it makes sense that Jan. 21 was Blue Monday.

But for us, next Monday, Jan. 28, will be bluer still.

Why? On Monday we finally will wrap up 2018 Believe Project season with our final story of someone giving $100 to someone in need.

For those of you who may not be aware, the Believe Project is something the Daily Herald has partnered with former businesswoman Carolyn Gable on for five years.

The Daily Herald solicits brief stories from readers about how they would help make someone else's life a little bit easier with $100. Gable picks the most inspirational stories and through us supplies a $100 bill and some inspirational words to each of 31 people - one per day for the month of December.

We print those stories daily throughout December.

As has been the case since the beginning, some readers join in the spirit of giving by making contributions to the program themselves. That has resulted in us continuing the program late into January and this season giving money to 60 people, nearly double our plan.

DuPage/Fox Valley Editor Bob Smith has been involved in the project for a few years now.

"The best part about editing the essays for our Believe Project is that they provide an everyday reminder of how willing so many of our readers are to reach out to help others," he said. "In many cases, the folks asking our donors for assistance already are doing their best to support people in need - friends, relatives, students, even relative strangers - and the Believe Project donations are simply a welcome add-on to those efforts. It's a project that reminds us how many people are struggling with challenges far greater than ours, but it's also a project that reminds us about the kindness and caring that's out there and often gets overlooked."

Kat Polomsky in our events department, is our liaison between our readers, the recipients and Gable.

Which story stayed with Polomsky?

"Beth Bazukas' story about the family with two children dropping out of school to work so the family can survive," she said. "It's upsetting to hear of any child having to give up their education due to general survival necessities that most of us may take for granted."

So, thank you, readers, for joining in the holiday spirit.

We can't wait for December.