The Stenseng family was in search of a new tradition when it turned to the Lawrence Community Christmas Dinner.

“We’re done with the trains-under-the-tree era of our lives,” Margaret Stenseng said. “We said, ‘How can we help?'”

Rather than sit around the house on Christmas Day last year, the Stensengs mashed 250 pounds of potatoes and helped deliver the food. A new tradition was born.

“Christmas is a time when abundance celebrates,” Stenseng said. “When everyone else is celebrating, there’s a contrast, a very stark, painful contrast to those who don’t have. That’s why we do it – to reach out to those people who feel that pain so much.”

The season of giving is upon us: Charities receive 30 percent of their donations during the fourth quarter, according to Giving USA Foundation.

Giving rises during the winter holidays because many see the period as a time for sharing, and it’s a time when many nonprofit organizations are soliciting donations, said Del Martin, vice chairman of the Giving USA Foundation.

Religious organizations receive 60 percent of household giving, according to a 2006 report from the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. Households donate the second largest amount to people’s basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing and heat.

People give because they’re asked, Martin said.

“That’s not all it takes, but it does definitely take that,” she said.

They also give because they trust the organization, have a connection to the cause, believe in the cause, and want to save, change or improve a life, Martin said.

Area residents who donate time and money say they do so to assist a community they care about. Some give for religious reasons, and some simply help out because they can.

“I believe that if we really do care about our community and want to make it the best it can be, we have to give back to it,” said Ernesto Hodison, who volunteers in the public schools and contributes to Toys for Tots and other organizations.

David Olson, a teacher at South Junior High School, contributes to the Lawrence Schools Foundation and is a member of its board.

“I’m a big believer in public education,” he said. “I think that public education is one of the avenues that helps people, especially those less fortunate. It gives them an opportunity in life to be successful.”

Even the young are giving this season.

Students at Quail Run School have been gathering toiletries and packaging them in decorative bags to donate to the Lawrence Community Shelter.

Preschool students at the Lawrence Arts Center adopted the Lawrence Humane Society. They baked dog biscuits and sent them to the pets.

Four-year-old Mackenzie Thomas said she liked the project.

“It makes dogs happy,” she said.

Pat Schamle, a member of St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, gives to the church and to charities benefiting children.

“It’s a way of doing what Jesus taught us to do: Love one another,” she said. “We should be doing this year round, but the holidays draw particular attention to that.”

Lawrence philanthropist Tensie Oldfather, who’s donated millions to various organizations and efforts, said she gives because she’s fortunate enough to be able to.

“It just seems to me that if you’ve got more than you need, then you ought to share it,” Oldfather said.

Giving to others helps build a feeling of community, she said.

“I don’t know that any one person makes a difference,” she said. “It’s the accumulation of everybody.”