Some people kid my friend Thad Woodard, president of the North Carolina Bankers Association, about the fact that to whatever project he may be involved in at any given time, he brings an enthusiasm that spit the bridle out Way Back There. Whether it's his ongoing campaign to adorn Raleigh-Durham International Airport with the names of the Wright Brothers, or politics -- bankers do care a little about politics, you know -- or the North Carolina Symphony, or a host of other civic endeavors, Thad's pretty much the guy you want out front.

He's the one you'll see, for example, unloading firewood for a family as part of the television promotion for Warmth for Wake, the heating-assistance program run out of Wake County Human Services. Once a year, your correspondent meets with Woodard and Gene English, who supervises Warmth for Wake for the county. The program's been going under its current title for 25 years -- sponsored by the bankers group most of that time -- and before that, for four or five years, was sort of untitled. Woodard's been involved a good while now.

Anyhow, this year he was as impassioned as ever. "These people," he said with this sort of serious kind of slow staring thing he gets going, "need our help. These are children! These are elderly people! They are so grateful!"

So you've pretty much figured out by now that Thad isn't exactly one of those Mr. Potter-type bankers who was salivating at the prospect of poor George Bailey going to jail in "It's a Wonderful Life." No, had he found George's misplaced funds, he'd have handed them back freely save for a suggestion: "George, how's about 100 bucks or so for Warmth for Wake?"

The campaign kicked off on Halloween, but now that many of us have felt the first frost of the season, the donations need to arrive in earnest. They can be made at any bank around, or by sending a check to Warmth for Wake, P.O. Box 46833, Raleigh, NC 27620.

As charitable efforts go, of course, it's a small-scale operation. All of the money goes to help people with heating bills, and fuel. Last year, 574 households (and 1,400 individuals) got help. Sounds fairly modest -- unless, of course, you lived in one of those houses.

But perhaps the biggest lessons come on the smallest scales. If you were trying to illustrate for youngsters just what charity means and how it helps and why it's important, you'll find no better way than this. Kids understand and participate in, we hope, the larger charities, but do they really understand what happens as a result of their pennies or quarters? They will with Warmth for Wake: Your money bought some wood so that a little guy your age can sit by a fireplace and stay warm tonight and not get sick.

And the campaign's always good, for my money, for a little perspective in a tough year. Certainly 2002 qualifies.

Let's try to think of it like this:

Your 401(k) took a hit thanks to an economic downturn -- but you still had heat.

Your health insurance jumped a...well, healthy amount -- but you still had heat.

Your car left you stranded on Capital Boulevard at rush hour -- but you still had heat, at least when you eventually made it home.

You lost sleep over things that did matter and many things that didn't matter -- but you still had heat.

Consider, then, what it must be like for those to whom life has already dealt some pretty cruel blows. Warmth for Wake clients are, after all, poor to begin with, deprived of a multitude of comforts most of us take for granted.

Many are elderly people, for whom winter brings a dangerous chill even in the best of circumstances. Some are disabled, confined in large part to their homes...confined, without assistance from this program, to a never-ending cold. And many are small children, who face months of colds and flu and sleeplessness if they have to huddle at night 'neath blankets or quilts. For they do not possess the superfleeces with the exotic names found in the ski shops of affluent Wake County. The cold will get to them; it never met an ordinary blanket that could put up a decent fight against it.

Again, you can send a donation to Warmth for Wake, P.O. Box 46833, Raleigh, NC 27620, or drop it off at any bank.

Hundreds of thousands of people live in Wake County, and it's true that Warmth for Wake helps only a fraction of them. But that fraction is mighty grateful, and whether the program helps 1,400 folks or 14, it's an important symbol that we care about one another, person-to-person or family-to-family, and a nice opportunity to do something a little different in the way of giving. So be different. Do a little something. You'll feel good about it.