Caring & Sharing Christmas

Community rallies to provide food, presents for families

By TOMMY ANDERSON tommyanderson@suddenlink.net
Posted 12/21/16

Not only is Mineola just about the friendliest town to be found in East Texas, it is also just about the most caring town to be found in East Texas.

Just how much Mineola cares about its less …

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Caring & Sharing Christmas

Community rallies to provide food, presents for families

Posted

Not only is Mineola just about the friendliest town to be found in East Texas, it is also just about the most caring town to be found in East Texas.

Just how much Mineola cares about its less fortunate residents was evident Saturday morning as the Caring & Sharing program provided boxes of food and Christmas presents to nearly 300 families.

Food drives at local schools, donations from businesses and individuals all added up to provide an ample Christmas for those in need. The foodstuffs and Christmas presents were distributed from 7:30 until 11:30 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church Ministries Center. Plans were made to provide 280 families with Christmas goodies with some extra in case there were others who were overlooked and needed to be given a little Christmas cheer.

Activity was brisk throughout the first three hours, then trickled down to a slow steady pace after that. At about 9:20 a.m. the check-in lines still found a double row of cars waiting to have their verification letters checked and their pickup numbers assigned.

About 25 to 35 volunteers were on hand all the time to make sure everything ran smoothly and quickly as grateful recipients made their way through the simple process of picking up their prized gifts. And smoothly it did go as every box of food stuffs and every last toy had found a new home by the end of the day’s activities.

One car with only adults inside was asked where the children were on such an exciting day and the driver replied, “They are at home so that Santa can bring them these toys on Christmas morning.”

Though this community outpouring culminated in just one morning of flurried activities, it is a project that involved hundreds of Mineolans over many months. Hopefully it is a project that will have a lasting effect on both the givers and receivers for many months to come.