Spirit of Christmas lives

Holiday distribution of food, gifts brings joy

By Janet Jacobs

Even though each family had an appointment time to pick up their toys and food, the line began to form around 7:50 a.m., more than an hour before the doors would open Thursday at the Fannie Mae Vernon Room in Corsicana, where the Salvation Army and Food Pantry had set up store for the day.

First in line was Valerie Hancock, who signed up in November to make sure her family got Christmas gifts this year. A single mother with five children ranging in ages from 2 to 11 years old, she has no job.

“With five kids, any help is good,” she said.

Farther back in the line was Glenda Graham, with three kids, twin 7-year-olds and an 8-year-old.

Her children had asked for the usual stuff — Bratz, Baby Alive and an Incredible Hulk toy. The Salvation Army was the only way to get the toys this year, she said.

“I work everyday, but after you pay utilities and overhead, it’s nothing,” Graham said.

She makes just over the limit to qualify for food stamps, she said. Graham trusted in God to provide for the family, she said.

“I had a talk with my kids, that’s why they didn’t ask for a lot,” she said. “I tell people I don’t look at my current situation, I look beyond it. Despite how hard it seems, we’re happy.”

Through an English-speaking friend, Norma Escobar explained that her four children asked for bikes, a toy truck and a baby doll. It’s been a bad year for her family’s finances, she said.

“Muy malo,” she said. “Very bad.”

Jessica Piper, 27, is a full-time student at Navarro College with one 5-year-old boy. She’ll graduate from college in the spring with a business administration degree and three certificates to help her find a job.

Her son asked for Handy Andy, but she accidentally wrote down Bob the Builder on the form. She shrugged. “He’ll be happy with whatever he gets,” she said.

Next Christmas, she hopes to be working full-time and be one of the donors of gifts to other families, rather than one of the recipients.

“Hopefully,” she said. “That’s my goal.”

Nancy Babers and her four children recently moved from Fort Worth to be closer to family in Corsicana.

“This is a blessing,” Babers said.

Frank and Pat Campbell stood out in the long line of young mothers and a few fathers. The older couple stood patiently waiting their turn. They weren’t there for toys, Pat said. Their three children are grown, with grown kids of their own.

“We’re here for the food,” she said. “Whatever the Lord wants to give us.”

The give-away Thursday was the annual one-stop event for families in need. A joint project between local service groups, grocery stores, and charities, such as the Salvation Army and Food Pantry, the project is a huge effort to provide Christmas for those who could not otherwise afford it.

Kip Thomas and fellow deputies with the Navarro County Sheriff’s Office brought help in the form of black-and-white uniformed trustees from the jail who helped load people’s cars. Meanwhile volunteers from the Kiwanis Club and Salvation Army filled the orders inside the building.

Hundreds of black plastic garbage bags sood in rows in the room, each labeled with a number. In the next room, a powder-blue Bratz bike covered with spangles stood pedal-to-pedal by a sporty orange big-boy’s bike with shock absorbers, one of several dozen bikes waiting to be picked up.

Once the doors were open, things went relatively speedily, as each family came in and showed their paperwork and received the gifts. Each family also given a box of food, including rice, canned vegetables, bread and a coupon for a free hen from either Brookshire’s or Olé grocery stores.

Among those participating in the well-coordinated effort this year were volunteers from the Corsicana Kiwanis Club, Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), Salvation Army, the Navarro County Sheriff’s Office, Brookshire’s and Olé.

The Salvation Army and its partners in the effort took care of about 600 kids this year, down from more than 1,000 last year. The reason there were fewer this year is because kids in foster care were taken care of by their own “angel” supporters, and several churches took on specific families to help.

Not all the “angel” cards were filled by the public this year, but a generous $10,000 donation from Community National Bank and Trust helped fill each stocking, said Capt. Cathy Adams of the Salvation Army.

With most of the needy families taken care of, the Salvation Army still has some small reserves for what Adams called “emergency cases.”

“Emergencies are people who just lost their jobs, or have some type of financial problem that just occurred, or house fires,” Adams explained. “We’ll take care of them.”

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