Community steps up to help those in need this holiday season

Saturday, December 23, 2017
Carlie McCaffree, left, and Sidney Ernsbarger load a cart with food.
Ralph Pokorny

People were lined up at 7 a.m. Friday at the National Guard Armory waiting in the cold to pick up their baskets of food, a winter coat, or a sack of gifts picked out for a teenage child at the annual Christmas Giveaway sponsored by Community Outreach.

Toys gathered in the community toy drive were distributed by the Nevada Eagles Lodge Friday afternoon at their lodge.

Community Outreach Director Barbra Long said Friday’s giveaway was dedicated to the memory of long-time volunteer Carl Wood.

Nevada High School Student Council members Kaylee Dundan, Tylin Heathmen and Ezinne Mba, load food into a vehicle.
Ralph Pokorny

She said this year they assisted 200 families, with the Nevada Elks Lodge providing for another 100 families.

Volunteers from the LifeWalk Church delivered food to 20 families, she said.

Members of the Nevada High School Student Council volunteered again to push shopping carts around the armory picking up food for people and then helped them to get the food to their cars.

“The High School Student Council Christmas food drive brought in 2,357 cans of food,” Christie Diehl, NHS Student Council sponsor, said.

“It was a record-breaking year for the winter food drive,” Diehl said.

Long said the Teen Angel program, coordinated by Corey Johnson with the assistance of Kaycee Sisseck, Kendra Miller and Melissa Neely, again provided gift bags for teenagers.

Johnson said they provided for 150 teens this year.

“It’s grown quite a bit from last year,” Johnson said, adding that in addition to Christmas, they provide for the needs of around 200 teen throughout the year.

Sheree Gayman and Megan Mason brought hundreds of coats that had been collected from the community.

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