A number of stories appearing in the past week’s Selma Times-Journal painted a very encouraging picture of our city and county.

Throughout the week, headlines have highlighted articles related to people giving financially and giving personally by donating their time to help others.

It began with the news that the last Angel had been adopted from the Salvation Army’s annual Angel Tree campaign.. This time last year, the organization was forced to kick up its adoption efforts to get each Angel adopted at the last minute.

This year, they were all accounted for well before their scheduled due date.

Sabra Sanctuary also secured a $6,500 grant with a help from Cougar Oil, which helps close the gap on the more than $30,000 in grants that were no longer available.

Also, a number of physicians gave their time for health fairs and other local leaders stepped up to speak to high school and elementaty school students throughout the week on a variety of topics that will help them for years to come.

The holidays are here, and people in Dallas County have proven eager to give in every way possible.

So many times, the criminal element of our area dominates the headlines. This week was not without its list of incidents.

However, there was plenty of good news to report as well. Keep it up Selma.