GREENVILLE – The 2019 Darke County Community Christmas Drive was very successful once again as there was a total of $31,234.98 collected. Although the total was not as much as in 2018, it was the second largest amount of funds ever collected despite there being only four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Donations totaled $27,386.56 at the various bell ringing locations, in addition to generous private donations totaling $3,848.42 from Eikenberry’s IGA, online donations through the Fish Choice Food Pantry and several individual donors.
The people of Darke County responded very well and their giving is truly appreciated by the leadership at Community Unity.
The steering committee is grateful for the help of all the businesses that allowed collecting to take place. These locations include both entrances of the Walmart Supercenter, Kroger, Eikenberry’s IGA, Rural King, KitchenAid Experience, Dave Knapp Ford, Greenville Federal Bank, Ace Hardware, SVG Chevrolet, Greenville National Bank in Ansonia, Super Valu in Arcanum, and the Mini Mart in New Madison.
Because of the generous giving of many Darke County residents, the lives of many less fortunate in our community will be impacted in a very significant way. The contributions have been distributed to help support the good work of Fish, Grace Resurrection Community Center and Community Unity each received $6,810. The ministries of the Faith United Methodist Food Bank in Arcanum, Ansonia United Methodist Food Bank, and the Castine Area Food Bank each received $2,270. The Salvation Army, who worked with the Community Christmas Drive at Kroger and Rural King, will receive half of the fund from those stores, which totals $4,102.48. All of the funds collected at these locations will remain in Darke County.
Special thanks go out to those who stood outside and braved the weather and to all the church businesses and service organizations who gave their time and energy to this outreach.
Frank Marchal and Pastors Mel Musser and Jim Morehouse, co-chairmen, wish to express their deep gratitude to all those involved in helping, including all of the steering committee members, Christmas Drive Treasurer Mike Boyer and the staff at the Greenville National Bank main branch who collected and counted all the donations.
Any area churches or organizations wanting to be involved in the 2020 drive may call Marchal at (937) 569-1439. It is hoped that the funds collected through this past year’s Christmas Drive will help a lot of families in our area struggling to get by and that this year’s drive will experience even greater success.
