Staff Report
Christina LaRock moved to Woodstock a year ago to be closer to family.
She worked at Kedron Valley Inn until she stopped recently to have surgery. She’s been out of work since.
“I’m having a hard time financially,” she said. “Being the holidays, it kind of sucks,” she said after she had finished loading her vehicle with a box full of food for a Christmas meal and a black trash bag full of presents for her son at the Masonic Hall last Friday.
This was her first time getting help from the King’s Daughters’ annual Christmas Project, which each year helps those struggling to get by have a brighter holiday.
The King’s Daughters had 136 boxes to give out on Friday—up from last year’s 130. The organization helped parents give 121 kids under 12 and 39 teenagers presents they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to afford.
The Christmas project helps people give when they wouldn’t have been able to give.
LaRock shopped for her 5-year-old son Caleb. She found him Legos and a Scooby Doo book.
“He’s learning to read,” she said.
Josh Linton, 26, filled his pick up truck with three bags full of clothes and toys, complete with wrapping paper. Volunteer Sandy Gilmour, a two years volunteer, helped him load it.
Linton had come to the Christmas project twice before. This year he found a football and a soccer ball for his 4-year-old son and he shopped for his cousin and his best friend, picking up gifts for their children.
It provides that little bit of extra when a $20 present seems like a lot at Christmas.
“That’s why so many people my age move south,” he said. “There you can live on $12 an hour.”
The Christmas project is “amazing community effort,” said the project’s organizer Barb Hyde. Games for children, toys and stuffed animals, clothing, books and stocking stuffers donated from businesses and community members fill the Masonic Hall each year.
Dozens of volunteers help people hunt for gifts and help them carry boxes and bags to their vehicles.
Sandy Gilmour who has been volunteering for two years was there in the morning, when about 50 people lined up outside the door waiting to get in, as if it was a Macy’s sale, he said.
“They lined up out there in the cold. It was touching,” said volunteer Bob Hager.
Julie Melendy was loading up her car to deliver 12 boxes to people who were homebound and unable to drive to the Masonic Hall.
“I love helping. It’s kind of special,” she said. She’s been a volunteer for almost 10 years.
“A lot of families are hurting,” she said.
This article first appeared in the December 23, 2015 edition of the Vermont Standard.