Thank you for answering the challenge, as always

Kudos, Kauai.

Island residents and tourists should be proud of themselves this Christmas Day. Thanks to their generosity, 507 people received a little holiday cheer they might have otherwise missed. 

That’s the total number of people The Garden Island/Zonta Christmas Fund helped in the form of gifts and gift cards through its annual, monthlong fundraising drive. 

For those who don’t know, the drive asks for donations through this newspaper and the donations that come in go to buying Christmas presents for people in difficult, trying situations.

“Deeply touched,” is how Yoshiko “Dimples” Kano, the longtime chair of the the Christmas Fund Committee, described her reaction to the amount of support that came in.

We are, too.

And so are those who were on the receiving end of those gifts, as well, as evidenced by the number of thank you notes and cards Dimples received.

Without rehashing everything here — we know we ran a lot of stories describing a lot of troubling life situations — we just want to put a bow on the effort and say, thank you.

Thank you for those who agreed to publish a picture of their donation to run in this newspaper because a picture, the saying goes, is worth 1,000 words when it comes to getting the message out.

And thank you, too, to those anonymous angels who donated without names or recognition.

Merry Christmas Kauai, you deserve it.