The holiday season is upon us.

Halloween is still two weeks away but I’m sure you’ve noticed that at least a small portion of your favorite retailers are now dedicated to Christmas.

When you can buy Christmas decorations, that means the holiday season is here.

All indications are that our economy, both nationally and locally, is on the road to recovery and that’s good news for a litany of reasons.

With the holidays upon us more and more opportunities will present themselves to help others via outreach.

Sure, there’s the annual holiday expenses: food for large gatherings, money for travel, money for gifts and decorations. But the holidays are typically when some of our local causes begin their most aggressive fundraising efforts.

We hope that, as you begin your holiday cash planning, you will save some room for worthy local causes. There are many.

For those who are unable to make a monetary contribution, we hope you will get creative with your giving.

Clean out a closet. The fruits of that labor can be taken to several places here in Demopolis. To those organizations, like the Salvation Army, a donation of that kind is as good as cash.

If you don’t have any items to donate, can you donate blood?

All blood types are needed, especially type O-negative and O-positive. Of all hospital patients who will need blood, 50 percent will use type O. To donate blood, people must be 17 or older, weigh at least 110 pounds, have not donated in the past eight weeks, and are not currently taking antibiotics.

You don’t have to dig into your wallet if you’re in the giving spirit.

All you have to do is make an effort.

Whether you choose to make a monetary donation or the donation of a particular item, we have many of organizations right here at home that hurt along with us last year. If your situation has improved – even slightly – over the past 12 months, we hope you’ll pass some of that good fortune on.