Every year in the United States, thousands of children are diagnosed with autism, juvenile arthritis, genetic disorders, bipolar disorder or any number of chronic disabling conditions. Theories blame everything from environmental toxins—such as mercury—to poor parenting, but for many conditions, definitive causes have not been identified.

St. Joseph’s Villa learned last week that it will receive $250,000—its largest corporate grant ever—from the Dominion Foundation. The grant will help fund three new buildings on the grounds of the Villa’s historic campus at Brook and Parham Roads in northern Henrico County. The buildings are a school for children with autism and other developmental disabilities, a custom facility for its Therapeutic Day Treatment program, and a dining hall and conference center.

Korey Outerbridge was in Iraq when the idea came to him: He needed to write a children’s book. “We had phone tents when we deployed, for soldiers to call back to the states,“ Outerbridge said. Crossword-puzzle and race-car magazines lay scattered about the phone tents. Soldiers would thumb through them while they waited to contact to their families, the 29-year-old Newport News native recalled.

Korey Outerbridge was in Iraq when the idea came to him: He needed to write a children’s book. “We had phone tents when we deployed, for soldiers to call back to the states,“ Outerbridge said. Crossword-puzzle and race-car magazines lay scattered about the phone tents. Soldiers would thumb through them while they waited to contact to their families, the 29-year-old Newport News native recalled.

The smell of warm cookies just pulled from the oven can bring back a flood of childhood recollections. The sounds of children’s sweet voices singing carols, the pride you felt as your mother opened a gift you made just for her—they’re the kinds of memories that last a lifetime. Making memories is what the holiday season is about.

Poverty isn’t something you can convey in a photo. It’s the sights, sounds and smells; it’s the touch and feel; it’s even the taste. It’s a mother trying to get water for her children, but failing. It’s a total body experience.

More than 40 residents from The Virginia Home will take to the water in an Aquathon to raise money for Children’s Hospital Foundation. The Aquathon, an annual fundraising event hosted by The Virginia Home, enables residents with severe physical disabilities to raise money for a local charity through swimming. During the Aquathon, swimmers have 30 minutes to complete as many lengths as they can.

DARE To Be You—Rappahannock Area, a program of the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board for families with children ages 2 to 5, is forming groups in Fredericksburg and Stafford County. DARE To Be You offers free interactive workshops in which families learn communication, relationship and problem-solving skills. The workshops, led by parent educators, include games and other activities. A family meal is provided at every session to enhance quality family time, and there are incentives for attending and completing the 12-week program.

Author Lynne Truss is incredibly creative in Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts! (34 pages, Putnam, $16.99, 34 pages).

Meg Medina reads from her book “Milagros: Girl From Away.“

As a child, Meg Medina’s days were awash with stories oceans away from the likes of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.“ “My grandmother . . . she rolled cigars as a young woman [in Cuba], and she still smoked as an old lady,“ Medina said of her grandmother, who had given up cigars, but not the habit of smoking, by the time she became Medina’s after-school sitter.

Some people have extra reasons to be thankful. They might have survived cancer, come home from war, gone back to school or cast a first vote. With each of those situations comes a certain wisdom. Today, eight people share their stories.