The appearance of this Christmas Friends sign in front of the Southside Sentinel in Urbanna signals the start of the holiday campaign. Bettie Lee and Fred Gaskins of the Sentinel installed the banner Monday.
Christmas Friends Inc., the local charity that provides gifts for needy children and elderly or disabled adults in Middlesex County, launched its 36th season this week.
The Middlesex Department of Social Services has already been assisting clients in completing their “wish lists” and volunteer shoppers will begin hitting the stores next week to fulfill those wishes. Volunteer wrappers and delivery crews will be gathering next month to complete another year of Christmas Friends magic by Dec. 18.
Monetary donations from community friends are now needed to assure that the work can continue. The program expects to serve 275-300 clients this year and the fundraising goal is $30,000.
Clients still working on wish lists are reminded to deliver them to Social Services as soon as possible. A final count is needed soon to assure that funding and shoppers are available.
Volunteer safety
The organizers of Christmas Friends — the Southside Sentinel and the Middlesex Department of Social Services — are grateful for all the volunteers who worked through the pandemic protocols last year, and continue to urge everyone to be cautious, stay safe, and get vaccinated. Some guidelines adopted last year have been adjusted:
Volunteers who have not been immunized are asked to wear a mask when inside buildings and even outside where 6 ft. of separation between individuals is not possible.
Shoppers are encouraged to shop early or late in the day to avoid crowded stores, use smaller stores if possible, and consider online shopping if there is no local alternative and timely delivery can be confirmed.
Wrapping sessions will be scheduled like last year to be sure social distancing space, and “elbow room,” is available for a maximum of five wrappers. Instead of only weekend sessions as in the past, volunteers will be able to wrap on most weekdays at the Sentinel office. A schedule will be announced later this week and posted on ChristmasFriends.org where you can sign up to wrap. Get your “fabulous five” together and plan on several morning or afternoon sessions of wrapping fun! There will be no wrapping on Wednesdays.
The wrapping area at the Sentinel office will be sanitized before and after each wrapping session. Wrappers are encouraged to bring their own scissors to each session.
Gift boxes are always needed and may be left any time at the back door of the Sentinel office.
Many shoppers also wrap the gifts they purchase. That is still an ideal situation in this pandemic world, and if more shoppers are able to enlist family members to help, wrapping paper is available at the Sentinel.
Delivery of the gifts is organized so volunteers rarely need to enter homes of the recipients.
Want to help?
Shopping director Bettie Lee Gaskins said 84 volunteer shoppers have already signed up. Last year over 100 were needed so if you would like to volunteer, please call Sentinel office manager Geanie Longest at 804-758-2328, ext. 101, or email her at glongest@ssentinel.com.
You can also contact Longest if you have a large van capable of holding approximately 25 “contractor” size bags of gifts and are willing to be its driver for one of 12 delivery routes on Saturday, Dec. 18.
The ideal van is a Chrysler or Dodge with stowaway rear seats, or similar size vans with seats that can be completely removed. “Full size” SUVs (such as a Chevy Suburban) have also been used successfully. Most regular size SUVs do not have enough space for all the bags.
Full size pick-up trucks with camper shells are also suitable.
Thanks to Horn’s Middlesex Ace Hardware which has once again donated all the contractor bags needed for the program this year.
Total volunteer effort
All funds donated to Christmas Friends go directly to help needy children and disabled or low-income elderly of Middlesex. All workers are volunteers and the only administrative fee is the annual State Corporation Commission renewal. Supplies such as boxes, wrapping paper and delivery bags are all donated. Volunteers supply storage space, vans and fuel to assist with the big delivery job.
Contributors will be recognized as Christmas Friends and their donations will be listed weekly in the Southside Sentinel. Contributors who wish to remain anonymous should request that their donations be listed as such. Memorial contributions also will be acknowledged.
To donate using PayPal or a credit card, go to ChristmasFriends.org.
Donations received through Nov. 16 total $3,116.
They include:
- In honor of their grandchildren by John and Vera England, $200.
- Chuck and Barie Carmichael, $200.
- YaZu Yachting, Christmas in July Barbecue, $1,622.
- Lydia and James Dudley, $30.
- Jane and Gordon Cutler, $30.
- Teresa and Richard Baldwin, $30.
- Cameron and Martin Peek, $50.
- Carousel Physical Therapy Inc., $200.
- Anonymous, $100.
- In loving memory of Patty Hill by Jim and Jean Hill, $50.
- In loving memory of Drewry Hill by Jim and Jean Hill, $50.
- In loving memory of our brother Jimmie Rector by Betty Miller and Jean Hill, $50.
- Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center, $504.
Total this week: $3,116.
Total to date: $3,116.
