Childhood memories are often brought back to mind when we see a little girl playing with her dolls, a small boy acting like a soldier, or a child’s first attempt at riding a bike without training wheels. We think fondly back on events like our first day of school, our first sports game, or Christmas morning. And while the children in Appalachia are developing very similar memories, sometimes the most basic things cannot be taken for granted here.
With many families struggling to keep the heat on and dinner on the table, let alone pay for home repairs and warm clothing, Christmas can become a great burden to parents wanting to provide a gift for their children. This is one of the ways your support helps families. Each year, CAP donors sponsor families so they are able to have presents on Christmas morning. Christmas services are typically held in each county so families can come hear the story of Jesus’ birth and collect their packages.
Despite the inclement weather in eastern Kentucky during the week of the Christmas Basket distributions, the Owsley County distribution and Christmas service was a success! Sixty-five people attended the service and over 125 families received boxes in that county alone. The boxes include gifts for each member of the family as well as a food voucher for a Christmas dinner. Although most of the church services were cancelled, caseworkers and volunteers in each county worked to distribute the hundreds of boxes to the families the week before Christmas. CAP served 12 counties, giving Christmas to over 580 families with children, and over 100 elderly people. We could not do this without the generous donations of gifts from our sponsors, totaling 541 sponsors this year. God bless you for bringing Christmas to the mountains!