“In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

— Acts 20:35

When staff at the Robeson County Department of Social Services asked us in October if a shot of adrenaline could be administered to The Empty Stocking Fund, this was their message, and we paraphrase: While it was great that the fund in 2014 provided Christmas for almost 1,000 children, another 1,000 kids ages 13 and under did not benefit. The phone calls to those who don’t get help are the hard ones to make.

We told the DSS officials, Anthony Dial and Teresa Harris are their names, that we would do what we could, but we made a silent pledge to ourselves to grind harder than ever before, to see what could be achieved. And if we did not use this space today to make a Hail Mary plea for donations, just hours before the deadline to contribute arrives, then that promise, like the fund was on Nov. 18, would be empty.

The Empty Stocking Fund currently has 156 gifts for a total of $42,710, making the average size of a gift — which have ranged from $10 to $7,000 — an eye-popping $273.

We can tell you as well that on Tuesday we will be reporting a significant gift from the Public Schools of Robeson County that will eclipse last year’s total — but leave us agonizingly short of this year’s goal of raising $71,850, a figure that obviously isn’t arbitrary, but was determined by multiplying the number of children deemed eligible, 1,437, by 50, the number of dollars each is provided by way of a voucher that can be redeemed at Kmart or Roses.

So if not another penny were donated this year to the fund, the effort would have still been a success, especially in a county where so many are in need, and so few are able to extend it.

But out of those 156 contributors, we count just a dozen with a church affiliation, and this in a county that literally has hundreds of churches. Our intent is not to impugn as we understand that these churches have their own ministries, but what could be more appropriate than a gift that will ensure one more child will not wake up on Christ’s day without a present to open?

This morning, across this county, tens of thousands of people will get up and dutifully attend church — and there will be countless sermons that will resurrect the message that began today’s Our View. Perhaps a few churches will pass around the collection plate on behalf of The Empty Stocking Fund, or perhaps a few parishioners can take it upon themselves to raise a few dollars to deliver to this newspaper on Monday before the 3 p.m. deadline.

The reality is that for The Empty Stocking Fund to collect enough dollars to provide Christmas for all of the eligible children, nothing short of a miracle is needed. So we are looking to the churches, where miracles are routinely acheived.