For the 23rd consecutive year, the Marietta Daily Journal is proudly sponsoring Cobb Cares, a fundraiser designed to help the less fortunate members of our community during the holiday season. This is an opportunity for residents to make a tangible difference in the lives of those who might otherwise go without - especially in a year during which the economy has badly sagged, many local people are out of work and thousands of residents of south Cobb had their homes damaged or destroyed by September's unprecedented flooding.

Readers will notice the front-page stories that run almost each day through Christmas Eve describing specific medical, dental, social and other needs of anonymous local individuals or families. Those wishing to help meet those needs should mail checks or money orders to: Cobb Cares, 995 Roswell St., Suite 100, Marietta, GA, 30060. All donations are tax-deductible.

The value of Cobb Cares lies in its ability to fill holes in the social service umbrella. Only needs that cannot be met by existing programs in Cobb County are being considered. With much of the economy doing poorly, there is more need this year than most, and more reason to show one's generosity during the holiday season.

Cobb Cares incorporates a screening committee made up of members of local social service agencies to sift through the names and specific needs submitted by the agencies. Its members include representatives of such agencies as the YWCA Battered Women's Shelter, the Center for Family Resources, the Legal Aid Society, Cobb Senior Services, the Cobb Department of Family and Children Services and Cobb United Way.

Directing the effort is Jeri Barr of the Center for Family Resources.

Cobb Cares annually raises tens of thousands of dollars from hundreds of local donors, with the average donation around $100. That is a solid foundation upon which to build an even more successful campaign this year.

As Marietta Daily Journal general manager Otis A. Brumby III noted in the Nov. 26 edition of the newspaper, "We hope that you will consider a personal gift this year to the Center for Family Resources, your clergy's discretionary fund, or one of the many worthwhile and caring charities that make Cobb a generous and special place to call home."

We are confident that readers will respond with the compassion they have shown in prior years and will continue the Cobb Cares tradition of generosity.

The program is our way of showing we care.

The rest is up to you.