{"id":6969,"date":"2015-12-08T13:26:12","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T18:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=6969"},"modified":"2015-12-08T13:26:12","modified_gmt":"2015-12-08T18:26:12","slug":"love-your-neighbor-henrico-christmas-mother-revisited-how-you-helped-and-still-can","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/debmillswriter.com\/?p=6969","title":{"rendered":"Love Your Neighbor – Henrico Christmas Mother Revisited – How You Helped and Still Can"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Henrico Christmas Mother is a great local charity which I recently featured on this blog<\/a>. Read there for the details. Today I just wanted to revisit their efforts as they come to the culmination of those efforts in their Christmas distributions starting this week. Henrico Christmas Mother is\u00a0such a great success story\u00a0in serving our\u00a0county’s neighbors in need.\u00a0The success of this charity is driven by the\u00a0phenomenal support of hundreds of volunteers, schools, and local businesses.<\/p>\n

The doors open on Thursday for the elderly, disabled, and families to receive your donations of love and care. Over the weekend, Harriet Long, president of the Council of Henrico Christmas Mother, and her husband Ken toured us around the facility where all this care for our neighbors is displayed.<\/p>\n

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The sight of all the toys, food, clothing, and gift items is joyously overwhelming. Donations from students, families,\u00a0and staff of Henrico County public schools as well as generous help from employees from the county government and other volunteers make for an amazing experience for these families in need. As an example, Moody Middle School\u00a0 collected 2855 pairs of socks for Christmas Mother. 2855 pairs of socks!<\/p>\n

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Local clubs, businesses, and churches are also incredibly generous in their help of these families.\u00a0 The bicycles below are\u00a0donated by Richmond Area Bicycle Association<\/a>. Other bike donations come from Henrico County agencies as well as individual donors.\"2015<\/a><\/p>\n

The carload of stuffed animals and books below came from the Lifeway Christian Store<\/a>\u00a0in Richmond. So many companies, organizations, and local businesses donate money, time, food, and clothing to Henrico Christmas Mother…for the sake of\u00a0our neighbors.\"Blog<\/a><\/p>\n

On Thursday and through all the days of distribution, the toys and other gifts will be out of boxes and on display for moms and others to choose for their children. What an experience to be a part of helping to make for a happy Christmas!\"2015<\/a>Council Members Mary Shaia and Harriet Long\"2015<\/a>Council President Harriet Long and #1 Volunteer, Ken Long<\/p>\n

As a citizen of Henrico County, I want to thank this year’s\u00a0Christmas Mother, Beverly Cocke, and all the Council members who are the driving force for Henrico Christmas Mother. You make it easy for us to be a part of loving our neighbors…and there’s still time to help (see below).\"2015<\/a><\/p>\n