Mo Young’s childhood Christmases were a busy time of year. She went with her mother, father and brother David to shop for Christmas presents. The siblings carefully picked through the rows of red and green tags shaped like Christmas ornaments, each with a name printed on it. Every tag represented a child in need of a present. Once they had their tags, they took care in picking the perfect gift for a kid they had never met. It
wasn’t a chore, it was a family tradition.
Since those early Christmas drives, Young has known nothing else but giving. It’s in her blood, she said. She described her mother, born in Keizer, Ore., as a “small-town white lady” with a big heart. She described her father, a Black man from Philadelphia, as a “hippie of his time,” one who spent his younger years hitchhiking across the country. The two both went to law school at the University of Oregon where they met…