There's an image of journalists as hardened, devil-may-care cynics, but — psst, this is just between us! — many of us are actually idealists who entered this field for the chance to do some good. Scratch a cynical journalist, and an idealist bleeds. So that's why my colleagues and I are talking about The New York Times Communities Fund. Some of us on the Times staff donate to it during the holiday season and invite our readers to do so as well. We then pass the funds to a group of nine nonprofits that we've chosen for their outstanding work. One gets books in the hands of needy American children, another helps young people find their way to college or vocational school, a third supports food banks and yet another helps girls in Africa attend school. We've written about these groups in recent weeks, and their work is pure uplift. I may sound like Tom Sawyer inviting you to whitewash a fence, but it's a privilege to support organizations doing such inspiring work. You can learn more and donate here. In my own family, at the end of the year we gather with our three kids and make group decisions about how to allocate charitable dollars. My wife and I make suggestions, and our kids sometimes have their own ideas. The Communities Fund website offers an excellent menu of choices for this kind of discussion, and The Times covers credit card fees so that 100 cents on the dollar reaches the organizations. I'm proud to be on the staff of The New York Times, and the Communities Fund is one reason. It has been around for more than a century, and it is our annual opportunity for the paper, our staff members and our readers to work together to help people out and put our idealism into practice. We'd be honored if you joined us. We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Games Here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle and Spelling Bee. If you're in the mood to play more, find all our games here. Forward this newsletter to friends to share ideas and perspectives that will help inform their lives. They can sign up here. Do you have feedback? Email us at opiniontoday@nytimes.com. If you have questions about your Times account, delivery problems or other issues, visit our Help Page or contact The Times.
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Keep a civil tongue.