Spirit of Christmas

By Carrie Helms, Clarendon Enterprise
 
Lions Bobbie Thornberry and Jimmy Johnson look over the 40 holiday food baskets the Clarendon Lions Club delivered to local families last week.  The club was just one of several organizations and businesses demonstrating good will toward their neighbors this year.
 
Every child goes to sleep on Christmas Eve hoping that Santa will come down the chimney with a big sack of goodies and fill the house with toys and gifts for Christmas morning. But many children, even in Clarendon, wake up to just a cold and hungry morning like any other.

Fortunately, local businesses and organizations worked hard this holiday season to ensure that no one went without this Christmas.

“Every child should have something for Christmas,” said Linda Gray, General Manager at Duckwall’s in Clarendon. “Toys for Tots is a great way to benefit kids in the community.”

Toys for Tots began seven years ago with Chamberlain Motor Company and has become a yearly tradition to be carried on by Suna AutoMall.

“All the toys go to kids in this community; that’s the reason we do it,” receptionist Vicki Sloan said. “It makes children happy who wouldn’t have Christmas otherwise.”

Duckwall’s and Suna AutoMall collected the toys, and Panhandle Community Services wrapped and delivered them to local children.

Panhandle Community Services has sponsored an angel tree for children in the community for almost ten years.

“We put up the tree the last week of November,” Robbie Hill of PCS said. “In two weeks, all 58 angels had been taken off the tree.”

Each child, ranging in age from birth to elementary school, receives a new pair of shoes, a shirt, and pants; and Lions Club members put together a basket of food for their families.

“We get the food for the baskets and the names of the families from PCS,” Lion Jimmy Johnson said. The Lions Club buys a turkey for each basket, then assembles and delivers them to families in need.

“All the Lions deliver them to the homes,” Johnson said. “Most of the people who receive the baskets are very appreciative.”

One of those appreciative families is Larinda Brown and her three children.

“The kids really appreciate the gifts,” Brown said. “It is nice that my kids get to see the true meaning of Christmas and the spirit of giving.”

Keith and Cherie Floyd of Floyd’s Motor Company and Body Shop have been busy elves repairing old bicycles to be distributed to children in the community.

“This is the second year we have done this,” Cherie Floyd said. “Last year we collected 20 or 25 bikes, and this year we already have more than 40 bikes.”

The Boy Scouts volunteered their time to help get the bikes in working order.

“We couldn’t have done it without the boys,” Floyd said. “Steve Carter and Carl Draper have been a big help.”

Floyd’s delivered bikes to a list of 15 or more children on Christmas Eve.

“We deliver them on Christmas Eve so the parents can do what they want with them,” Floyd said. “We have plenty of bicycles for any child who needs one. Every child should have a bike.”

Children are not the only ones in need this holiday season. Residents at the Medical Center Nursing Home had a chance to have their Christmas wishes fulfilled with the help of the Angel Tree at Duckwall’s.

“We have been doing the Angel Tree for four years,” Gray said. “You take an angel off the tree with that person’s specific needs written on it.”

Duckwall’s and the Medical Center Nursing Home handed out the gifts at their annual Christmas party on Thursday, December 20.

 “It helps the residents because they cannot go shopping for themselves,” Gray said. “They get so excited, and it is something easy that the community can do to help make their Christmas special.”

Every year the youth from the First Baptist Church in Clarendon fill shoeboxes with gifts for children who visit the Ministry Center Clothes Closet and Food Pantry on Saturday mornings.

“Some kids who come in here probably don’t even have running water, much less gifts under the tree,” seventh grader Austin Howard said. “It is always good to do something nice for someone else, especially at Christmas.”

Many of these businesses and organizations work non-stop all year long to keep the Christmas spirit alive.

Over the last year, the Ministerial Alliance of Clarendon spent close to $4,000 helping people in the community with financial difficulties.

“We help people pay for utilities and for their heating during the winter months,” Alliance president Rev. James Ivey Edwards said. “Part of the money was spent buying food and gas for stranded travelers.”

Panhandle Community Services is active in four counties and involved in charitable services including helping people in the community with rent, paying utility bills, and weatherizing homes.

“We provide transportation around town and take a bus to Amarillo three times a week,” Hill said. “People can make donations of money or food or volunteer to help all year long.”

The Lions Club is a service organization that makes annual contributions to many organizations including the Bronco Band, the Junior Livestock Association, Girls Town, and Clarendon College. The club also has a program to buy eye exams and corrective lenses for local school children in need.

“People can get involved by donating food or cash money,” Johnson said, “or by joining in an organization like Lions Club.”

The Ministry Center is open every Saturday morning from 10 to noon distributing clothes and food and accepting donations.

“When you clean out your closets and cabinets, please don’t throw it all away,” Jean Ledbetter of First Baptist Church said. “We are always in need of children’s clothes, coats, and shoes or canned food.”

The Christmas Spirit is alive and well in Clarendon, especially for the families who have received gifts of love from charities like these.

“It feels good to know that there are people out there who really care about families who need help,” Brown said.