“If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.

“If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.

“If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.

“If you want happiness for a lifetime, help someone else.”

A friend of mine gave me this quote, and he did not know who wrote it. I thought it is the best quote to represent the feelings that I have about giving. Helping others is the reason we are on this planet.

Freeborn County is far and away the best place I have ever lived for both giving to others and picking people up when they are down. To see how people come together and give for the Freeborn County Relay for Life, Salvation Army, local charities and most recently “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” makes your heart three sizes bigger. Our little part of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa has no Grinches; that is for sure.

As we close in on the winter months we need to make one more big push to help others and that is the United Way of Freeborn County.

United Way’s theme this year is “Live United.” United Way’s director is Ann Austin and she is working hard to strive for this year’s need of $592,000.

Ann and this year’s co-chairwomen Sue Berg and Tiffany Hagan are dedicated to making this need become a reality. This need is not an option for them and it should not be an option for any of us in a position to give. This money goes directly to the invisible people in Freeborn County. When I say invisible, I mean the people that day to day go without food, clothing. Invisible means that you do not see the battering, the neglect, the hopelessness that the agencies that United Way supports do.

These agencies need your help.

United Way needs your help.

Thorne Crest Baked Potato Fundraiser: Tuesday, from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. I’ll be there with friends!

Fountain Warehouse Liquor Wine Tasting & Silent Auction: Nov. 7 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Ramada Inn.

Keep the Fires Burning: Nov. 21 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the corner of Garfield Avenue and Main Street.

Please dig deep this year and support “Live United,” not just as a theme, but as a way to better the lives of others.

Please let’s all pull together and make the invisible visible.

Tribune Publisher Scott Schmeltzer’s column appears every Thursday.