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Show j ' y ' ' ; ' V; 'i V ? ' ;;ir . , ' fr.ir - 1 , ,fr . , v;. I. -i , . . . I , ,-' X . -. i - :-.' . ;-e ; . 5 1 . - ..'-1 , i. ' : ' i : . . : . ; : -' " ' " ; il ; -: ' fJ - .' ' ( ' ' i - '. ','. i j . s v ' "' t t . ... - , . v- at ft -V.r- f i , I Nt J - -I , . - - - , Pleasant drove .Junior High students, L-H, Nathan Jolly, Amanda Carlton, Natalie Huntsman and Justin drammer, box canned goods collected for the Sub for Santa program at Nevvtah, Inc. This gingerbread chapel and house were donated to the Festival of Trees by Harvey" Hazel Ilawlinson of Pleasant drove. ' ' Many helped to make this Christmas happy the editor's column By MARC HADDOCK Christmas brings out the best in people, and this year we have seen some of the best ever. When our publisher started our annual Christmas Family project a few years ago, he thought here was a chance to help two families in need. But the project has grown far beyond anything we had anticipated. antici-pated. Each year our readers respond with an outpouring of food, toys and necessities that make it possible pos-sible for more and more to have a happy Christmas. Here are some examples of the generosity we saw this year: Monday we got a call from Pleasant Grove Junior High School, where students had collected col-lected over 3,000 cans of food for our families. Their efforts, com: bined with schools in American Fork and Lehi, as well as some scout projects, produced over 6,000 cans of food - more than we had ever expected. None of it was wasted. This year, 26 families were nominated to be one of our Christmas Christ-mas families. We picked five, and the United Way took care of Christmas Christ-mas for five others. The rest were "adopted" by service serv-ice organizations, family groups and others. Our office manager, who spends dozens of hours each year sorting through . the donations, dona-tions, keeps track of all these families. fami-lies. So after she had providedfor our and instead of exchanging gifts, they brought in gifts for a Christmas Christ-mas family. This is the second year for this kind of party. There were many more family groups who got together to provide new toys toys that our Christmas Family children were hoping Santa would bring on Christmas morning. morn-ing. Others are making the Christmas Christ-mas Family project a tradition. For example, a woman in her 80's donates do-nates some money each year this year it was $150 - because she "knows what it is to be without." She wasn't the only one. Cash donations totaled almost $1500 this year. A small amount was used to purchase specific presents pres-ents that had been requested but not donated. The rest was divided up among the families. Toys were donated by two little girls who had entered our cooking contest and had won gift certificates. They used their certificates certifi-cates to purchase presents for a Christmas Family. And our readers put a lot of themselves into their gifts, as well. One woman knitted more than 10 sweaters for the children listed as part of our Christmas families. Another donated fashion dolls with clothes she had meticulously crocheted for each. - Another doll with handmade clothes was donated. Two young mothers made a quilt, and brought it in with a tur key and new coats, pajamas., guinea and more for one of the families. - A young girl made a paper sleigh and reindeer, and a felt Santa Clausfor one of theyoungest children listed as part of our Christmas families. - Businesses donated clothing, candy, games, stuffed toys, and more. All in all, the generosity of you, our readers, was overwhelming. We had to find an empty building to store all of the items as they came in. That space, too, was donated. And all of it was done in the best spirit of the season. All of the donations were made anonymously no one knew who was giving or who was getting. For the most part, the generosity generos-ity was spontaneous rather than the result of an assignment. And the gifts were well received. Taking these deliveries around each year has become a highlight of my Christmas. This year, however, because of a knee injury which has me on crutches, I couldn't help. But again I hear d stories of tears of gratitude from mothers who thought they could offer their children chil-dren only a little for Christmas. The families were as overwhelmed as we were. The project reminds us annually what good people live here and.it akes us proud to be part of the community. id I hope you all have a Merry Christmas. Christmas Families with the food, she made up separate packages for 16 other families who were in need. Our readers helped provide Christmas for virtually every, family fam-ily that was nominated this year. One extended family with over 30 members held a family party, |