With the days of December beginning to race by, there is an urgent need this week for about 10 more Christmas Friends shoppers to fill the wish lists of over 20 children and senior adults in Middlesex County.
The gifts will need to be purchased, wrapped and sorted before the 2025 delivery day, Dec. 20.
Shoppers can be individuals, couples, whole families, a group of co-workers, or members of a Sunday school class, etc. The children or adults you will be shopping for have each submitted “wish lists” of items they need or want, including toys, clothing and shoe sizes.
Because of generous donors, Christmas Friends is able to distribute funds to purchase the gifts based on the ages of those referred. Each shopper or group of shoppers usually purchases gifts for 2-3 people.
To help
Please call or email Geanie Longest at the Southside Sentinel, 804-758-2328, ext. 101, or glongest@ssentinel.com as soon as possible.
Other volunteers are invited to sign up online to help with wrapping. Go to ChristmasFriends.org and scroll down to the link on the bottom-right for volunteer wrappers. It will take you to a SignUp.com site where you and your friends can pick a date and time.
Wrapping sessions are scheduled to ensure ample space for a maximum of five wrappers on weekdays, except on Wednesdays, at the Sentinel office. Morning sessions are from 9 a.m to noon and most afternoon sessions are from 1 to 4 p.m. through Dec. 12. Evening sessions can be arranged.
Once the wrapping is completed, a major delivery operation is scheduled shortly before Christmas — this year on Saturday, Dec. 20. A total of 13 vehicles will spread out across the county to distribute approximately 260 gift bags.
Christmas Friends Inc. has served needy children and disabled or low-income elderly of Middlesex, all referred by the Department of Social Services, for 40 years now. Between the shopping, wrapping and delivery, hundreds of volunteers participate every year.
Six more delivery vehicles are still needed on Dec. 20. 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 pickup trucks are also suitable in dry weather.
Please call or email Longest if you have a large vehicle capable of holding approximately 25 “contractor” size bags of gifts and are willing to be its driver for one of the delivery routes. Deliveries begin at 9 a.m. and are usually completed well before noon.
ChristmasFriends.org also contains a link for those who wish to donate funds through PayPal or a credit card. Donations can also be brought to the Sentinel office at 276 Virginia St. in Urbanna or mailed to Christmas Friends Inc., c/o Southside Sentinel, PO Box 549, Urbanna, VA 23175.
Monetary contributors are recognized as Christmas Friends and their donations are listed weekly in the Sentinel. Contributors who wish to remain anonymous should request that their donations be listed as such. Memorial contributions also will be acknowledged.
Donations received through Dec. 2 total $6,588, with $3,257 coming in this past week.
Other individual donations include:
- Christmas Blessings, Paige and Dale Sprenkel, $100
- In loving memory of John Lemons from Billy, Blair, Palmer, Sophie and Peyton Curdts, $100
- In memory of Steve Compton, $100
- Anonymous, $300
- Anonymous, $150
- Anonymous, $1,100
- To celebrate the Monday afternoon SKAT ladies, $100
- To celebrate the Wednesday Steamboat Restaurant lunch ladies, $100
- Anonymous, $100
- In loving memory of Ginny, Pat and DJ, $200
- Zoar Baptist Men’s Class, $100
- In honor of Christmas Friends given by Reveres’, $200
- Anonymous, $100
- Anonymous, $100
- Merry Christmas!, $100
- Middlesex County Woman’s Club, $150
- Anonymous, $100
- Middle Peninsula Regional Security Center, $57
