GREENVILLE — One Darke County family, which has asked not to be identified because they don’t want the glory, decided this year to do something special for Christmas.
They followed a life lesson of helping others.
“We want to remain anonymous because that’s not why we did it,” the mother said.
Her two young sons recently delivered bookbags to children and fed lunch to about 70 people in need at the Grace Resurrection Community Center (GRCC) in Greenville.
“People and kids were so grateful for blankets, socks and gloves and all of the goodies,” the mother said. “Our youngest son even volunteered to read from the Bible before lunch. I was almost in tears because he struggles to read and read in front of 55 people.”
The meal was held on Wednesday before Thanksgiving.
“It was a good opportunity for us to do this,” the mother said. “The boys were able to help serve and did devotions before we served.”
She went on, “Life lessons of helping others for Christmas has been such an amazing journey and we’re truly grateful for all the amazing angels that donated or made things for this project. We will be forever grateful.”
The family attends an area United Methodist Church and, one Sunday, the pastor talked about going to a conference and said that people there were ignoring the homeless out front.
“We talked about what we could do to help other people, so we set up Operation Stay Warm,” she said. “That was in August during school time. I put it on Facebook. Our goal was 50, and we got 52. We started off with bookbags and blankets, and someone donated hats, scarves and gloves, and the Union City Help Center heard about it and donated 35 book bags and some church ladies made crocheted hats, scarves and socks. There were 40 donations. We didn’t have to buy anything.”
She said her goal was to teach her sons a life value for one of their Christmas presents.
“That value of life was helping other people,” she said.
“It’s all about spreading kindness,” said the 9-year-old. “I learned we should help others in need. We should always help other people in bad situations.”
“This joy spread to other people,” his 7-year-old brother said. “I liked helping others in need.”
The family is still hoping that winter coats can be obtained to give to the needy as part of their project.
“How do we challenge people to do something without getting in return,” she asked. “Service is one of our values.”
She said the bookbags were put together in their home and included friends of the boys.
“This will probably be an annual event and other parents want their kids involved,” she said.
“The boys were excited because they got their families involved in it. The boys’ family bought groceries and gave it back to the community center.”
