This week we are launching our partnership with North Kitsap Fishline and participating as a tag tree location in their annual Christmas Child Gift Tag program, just in time for the holidays.

I am extremely proud of our staff for continuing this project. As a publisher of local community newspapers, I feel it is important that we use our media reach and leadership role to help those that may need a little extra help from time to time. In fact, it is something that I feel extremely strong about because of personal experience.

I want to share with you, today, a little about my childhood.

When my mother was pregnant with me, my dad died in a car accident. The accident happened exactly, to the day, six months before I was born.

I am the youngest of four. I have an older brother and two older sisters. Through various events, we — my mother, brother, sisters and I — ended up as migrant workers, traveling from place to place picking fruit and vegetables to make a living. (I attended three dozen schools from kindergarten through 12th grade.)

There were many times when I was growing up that we were homeless. When I was four years old, we were living in a tent in a state park in California. Christmas approached, and my mother sat all of us kids down and told us that we were not going to have a Christmas that year. She explained that because we didn’t have a house, it would be difficult for Santa to find us. It was her way of softening the blow of another difficult Christmas. It wasn’t unusual for us to go several days without a meal. We couldn’t afford housing or food, much less presents at Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, we all went to bed in the tent just like any other night. As the youngest, I was the first to wake up the next morning. I opened the flap of the tent and, as I crawled out, I was astonished to see that there were presents all wrapped up and sitting in front of our tent.

You can imagine how excited that made me as a four-year-old. I quickly woke up my mom, my brother, and my two sisters to show them what I had found. We all stood there in amazement while my mom read the card, with tears rolling down her face.

I remember that day as if it were yesterday. The park rangers and their families had pooled together and made sure that my family had a Christmas that year.

Still today, after all of these years, that Christmas is my most memorable. It affected my life for the better. Although the park rangers and their families probably don’t recall what they did, this simple act of kindness from strangers made a difference in who I am today. It’s why I volunteer. It’s why I try to help as many people as I can. It’s why I am so passionate about seeing families in need get the help they need. It’s why I am confident that we all make a difference in the lives that we touch.

So this holiday season, whether you donate to the Christmas Child Gift Tag program or in a different way, I hope that everyone in our community takes a moment to make a difference in someone else’s life.

— Terry Ward is the publisher of the Kitsap News Group, which includes the North Kitsap Herald, Bainbridge Island Review, Bremerton Patriot, Central Kitsap Reporter, Kingston Community News, Kitsap Military Times, Kitsap Weekly and Port Orchard Independent. Contact him at tward@soundpublishing.com or follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/TerryRWard