Today’s issue of The Beachcomber comes out on Christmas Eve, a time when many of us are surrounded by loved ones, enjoying holiday celebrations and, of course, wrapping gifts. For the holiday issue, The Beachcomber chose to profile what one church on Vashon is doing at Christmastime. The story that emerged was one about the plight of West Africa, a place where Christmas will be very different this year.

Liberia was just beginning to recover from a civil war that ravaged the country when the Ebola crisis hit. Now, Liberians are trying desperately to care for their sick and stop the virus in a nation that is in disarray, lacking a stable economy and solid infrastructure. When the epidemic came, there were just 40 doctors in the whole country and no ambulances. In many places, food and simple medical supplies are hard to come by. Many of those caring for family members or others have no good way to protect themselves from Ebola. The need is so great that the Vashon Presbyeterian Church, which typically chooses a charity to support each Christmas season, decided to focus their efforts this winter on bolstering the fight against the deadly disease.

George Everett, a Liberian American and acquaintance of the Presbyterian church’s pastor, knows better than anyone the heartbreak West Africa has experienced this year and the battle it still wages. In an interview with The Beachcomber, he told of losing several family members in the civil war and then losing several more to Ebola. Everett is now begging Seattle to donate what Liberians are desperately in need of: rubber gloves, bleach, hospital beds and money for food. Presbyterian church members realize they can’t do a lot to stop Ebola, but they can help the people who are on the front lines fighting the disease. They’re working to collect medical gloves and to raise money for Doctors Without Borders.

George Everett’s story and Liberia’s desperate need to stop its epidemic puts our own “needs” in perspective this winter. In the U.S., we crave many things during the holiday. In Liberia, however, a holiday need is simply a pair of rubber gloves to protect someone bravely fighting Ebola.

This Christmas, keep West Africa in your thoughts, and when you’re out doing some post-holiday shopping or returns, consider picking up a box of gloves.