The man in a red coat, Father Christmas, has been and gone. It’s that time again when we look back on the year past and forward to the new year ahead. A time for New Year resolutions.

If you are one of the rare people who actually achieves your resolutions then congratulations! It’s reported that the failure rate is about 80%. Many of us lose our resolve by mid-February with the two most common resolutions being losing weight and saving money.

Resolving to lose weight can often be a response to overindulgence over the festive period. Whether your weakness is mince pies, crispy roast potatoes, sherry trifle, a wee tipple, or all of the aforementioned, it is certainly true that January is the month we endeavour to get off the sofa and hit the gym.

However it’s important to remember that one brown paper bag full of food was the only treat for some last Christmas. I saw this for myself during a recent trip to Washington DC where I was lucky enough to meet up with fellow Scot and columnist Graeme King who now lives there.

Graeme braves the North American elements every Saturday as he makes his way to the headquarters of Food For All DC, a charity he supports that strives to provide emergency food to those who are in temporary situations of need. In a recent column in Tartan Eye magazine he said that if you are in Washington on a Saturday morning then come along and volunteer. So I did.

The volunteers are a great bunch of people coming from across the city and around the globe. There’s even a very friendly dog who oversees operations! However, the food parcels they deliver is only one part of the operation. Some people they drop off food to don’t speak to anyone from one week to the next. This charity provides a vital lifeline to the housebound and lonely.

Helping pack the food bags was a humbling and thought provoking experience and I’d like to thank Graeme not only for having me along to Food For All DC, but also for showing me a glimpse of the vibrant art scene on offer in Washington, a city that has so many interesting things to visit. I tried to see as many museums and art galleries as I could, being especially pleased to visit the Library of Congress.

Father Christmas has now hung up his red coat for the time being, but when in Washington I went to Capitol Hill, not just to see the largest library in the world, but to see a lady in a different red coat. This red coat has become a uniform.

In 1814 Redcoats marched into Washington and set fire to the White House, the Library of Congress and other important buildings. It was Thomas Jefferson, the man who claimed that he ‘could not live without books’, who sold his personal library to Congress after the fire.

I could have stayed in the Library for several more hours but I wanted to catch a glimpse of this lady in the red coat, making her way up to Capitol Hill, as she has done each Friday since October and will do so through to January 2020. She is an 81 year old woman and was instantly recognisable.

The lady in the red coat was Jane Fonda.

Her red coat has not only become her uniform but it is a symbol of her passion for raising awareness about the dangers of climate change, inspired by today’s young climate activists. She has dubbed her weekly protests as Fire Drill Friday as a response to Greta Thunberg’s warning that ‘our house is on fire’.

Fonda has, for the time being, chosen to relocate to Washington DC to campaign each Friday, rain or shine. And she is not alone. Some of her famous friends turn up on a Friday to support her on her mission. Ted Danson showed his support. How I wish I’d got to cast my eyes on him! On the day I strolled up Capitol Hill she was joined by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, founders of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

It wasn’t weather for ice cream but, as the temperature dropped, her coat will undoubtedly keep her warm. It has on occasions also doubled up as her mattress when she has been arrested and put in jail.

Not only does this iconic red coat symbolise her commitment to saving the planet, it is also used as a statement of intent against fast fashion. Her red coat is the last piece of clothing she will buy. ‘We don’t really need to keep shopping. We shouldn’t look to shopping for our identity. We just don’t need more stuff,’ the 81 year old says.

On my return from the States I dug out my old red coat from the back of the wardrobe. It needed a bit of attention but buying less clothes could go some way to achieve a resolution on saving money. However, perhaps this year more so than ever, our resolutions shouldn’t just be centred around ourselves but should be broader. Actions like Fonda’s remind us we should be setting goals with a global aim, like trying to use less plastic, recycling and looking after our planet.

My trip to Washington was not only interesting but it gave me plenty of food for thought.

Subsequently, my New Year’s resolution was to volunteer to help with a UK food charity that redistributes surplus food to charities to make meals.

My old red coat is now spruced up and I wore it to my first volunteer shift. But, if one thing’s for sure, I sure didn’t look as good as the lady in red Jane Fonda.

It’s my plan to do better than I did with last year’s resolutions. I hope to continue volunteering with the food charity to beyond mid-February and prove the statistics wrong. I’ll keep you posted.

January 2020 is not only a time to look forward to a new year, but indeed to the new decade of the twenty twenties. It’s a time to think about facing new challenges with a fresh perspective. Our planet needs us more than ever. As Ms Fonda takes her last Fire Drill steps up Capitol Hill this month, it is the small everyday steps all of us can take from now on that will make a difference.

Whatever New Year resolutions you may have made for this year I wish you the best of luck.