It’s the time of the year where Christmas music plays on the radio 24-7 and temperatures begin to tumble. With winter comes the holiday season.

Gifts, holiday parties and decorations greet eager children and families. Most importantly, ‘tis the season of giving.

Fundraisers take place and patrons open their wallets more than ever during December. Around Monroe County, it is no different. There are plenty of ways to help out this holiday season.

One of the largest charitable efforts in the area is the Waterloo Rotary Club’s Tree of Lights campaign. This yearly fundraiser helps the community all year long. It started in 1991 after the old format was growing too rapidly. Several Rotary members helped provide Thanksgiving baskets and holiday baskets to needy families in the county. As the need grew, so did the charity. The Tree of Lights campaign was created to help out. Since its inception, the fundraiser has raised more than $660,000.

Tree of Lights donates about $7,500 in gift certificates to the Western Egyptian Economic Opportunity Council, Human Support Services and the Waterloo School District wellness program, who then, in turn, distribute them to needy families.

“We distribute the rest of the money around this time each year or down the road to other local organizations who have the primary goal to help the needy in the county,” Mark Altadonna, Tree of Lights coordinator, said.

In the first year of the campaign, they raised about $5,300. Over the past several years, their goal has been to raise $40,000 a year.

“The main thing we try to stress with people who are potential donors is that the Tree of Lights organization is set up as a separate 503c organization, but the Rotary Club itself underwrites all the cost of the campaign,” Altadonna said. “There are no expenses involved. Every dime that comes into the fund goes out to worthy organizations or direct help to families in need. It stays in Monroe County. Those are the two main things we stress.”

Donations may be sent to Waterloo Rotary Tree of Lights c/o State Bank of Waterloo, P.O. Box 148, Waterloo, Ill., 62298-0148. Donations can also be dropped off at all State Bank of Waterloo or First National Bank of Waterloo locations.

New to the neighborhood this year is the House of Neighborly Service. This group is made up of organizations, churches and others who wish to focus on giving back to the community.

For Thanksgiving, the group helped put together more than 150 dinner baskets. Now, they are doing the same thing for the upcoming holiday season, but with gift baskets.

Families in need can call their hotline at 939-8680 to leave a list of materials such as winter essentials like coats, mittens and scarves. They can also ask for gifts as well.

People looking to adopt a family can call the same number.

“It’s a flow. We give and we receive. It’s a circle. The community giving to each other,” House of Neighborly Service Executive Director Pastor Thelma Burgonio-Watson said. “That concept is wonderful. We, as the House of Neighborly Service, are only a vessel of this gift giving and gift sharing. We are raising awareness of people’s needs and giving opportunities for generous and hospitable people to give.”

Burgonio-Watson noted that her group is also collecting winter essentials to donate to the elderly through the local senior centers this winter. She said that when the centers shut down briefly this past summer during the state budget impasse, she learned of their need.

Again, contact the hotline number to help or ask for help.

The organization is also involved with adopting at-risk kids from Career Center of Southern Illinois. They will be donating gifts to the children.

The House of Neighborly Service is doing much of these things through its holiday outreach program. The goal is to assist as many families in need as possible.

“It’s just really showing that there are resources in the community to meet the needs of this community,” Burgonio-Watson said. “We just have to find out where they are. We don’t have to go very far to help each other — the help is here.”

Currently, the organization is hosting a book fair in conjunction with the Waterloo School District wellness program. It runs the rest of the week from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the old Waterloo firehouse on Main Street.

Buy one book and get one free. There will be a donation set up to help collect books for the holiday outreach program. Cash is also acceptable.

Food is one thing that is needed year round. Another group in the community is helping combat hunger.

St. John United Church of Christ in Maeystown organizes and runs a backpack food program for kids. Pastor Patrick Poole says it was developed about four years ago.

“We refer to it as the Bi-County Backpack Program, so it’s not so specifically tied to our church,” Poole said. “It really is supported by all the different churches and organizations in the community.”

When the program started, they were helping between 18 and 20 kids. That number has grown to about 115, with the addition of helping out children in Waterloo, Red Bud and Valmeyer.

“What we have found is that kids are going through the weekend without food,” Poole said. “They could get by through the week because they could go to school early and get breakfast then get lunch at school through a program that allows them to have a free lunch and breakfast. Then, on the weekends, it came to our attention that they were often going without good nutrition and regular meals.”

Poole said that Kelly Lerch, wellness coordinator for the Waterloo School District, came to the church to see if they could help provide food to more children in the area. Poole said that Laurie Knoll took charge of the program in addition to her duties as the mission team leader.

Food comes from just about every and any church in the area, as well as multiple organizations.

“The project is to fill a backpack full of food to get kids through the weekend,” Poole said. “So, they have basically a breakfast, lunch and dinner for both days of the weekend, and some snacks. That’s kind of the purpose of it.”

The program also runs in the summer, but focuses on filling an entire box for a month.

It costs about $1,000 per week to send kids home with food — that’s about $52,000 a year.

Poole said the program is always looking for cash donations, in addition to food, to help.

St. John UCC can be reached at 458-6940.

A similar backpack program has begun in Dupo. The Community Backpack Angels will begin by helping feed five students per weekend, which will cost about $50. Approximately 60 percent of kids in the district are on the “free lunch” program.

Checks can be made out to CBA and mailed to Todd Mushaney at 200 South 3rd Street, Dupo, Ill., 62239.

There are plenty of other businesses and organizations around the Monroe County area who are trying to find a way to donate during the holidays. For instance, Strano & Associates Real Estate is collecting gently used stuffed animals. These can be dropped off at their office at 824 N. Market Street in Waterloo.

With the holiday season just beginning, the area’s charitable campaigns are very much underway.