Letter to the Editor

Christmas Joy group thanks community

Editor,

The Christmas Joy Committee members are really thrilled to be part of the greater Montezuma community. This year, as in past years, this community saw a need to reach out to families and individuals at Christmas and they took advantage of that opportunity in a really big way.

This year they gave out gifts to 179 children whose parents or guardians might not have been able to give them much or anything for Christmas. They also gave out Christmas food boxes to all the families of children receiving gifts. These boxes contained all the fixings for a Christmas dinner plus a little extra. In addition, 120 food boxes were given out to elderly individuals and families in and around Montezuma.

Of course a project as big as this required the effort and cooperation of a really large group of people. There were those at the school who helped in finding families who might need some help. There were those who put all that information together. There were all the people who brought gifts for the children. There were the businesses that held toy drives.

The City of Montezuma not only opened its office to receive all the gifts, but the office workers spent hours sorting everything out. There were quilt clubs who made beautfiful, bright quilts for the children and the elderly. Wrappers spent many, many hours wrapping the countless gifts that came in unwrapped. There were also all those who transported gifts and donated supplies and money to buy supplies.

And there were those who worked on all the food boxes. There were those who hauled all the food and filled all the boxes. There were all the young people who delivered the boxes to the elderly. And, of course, there were the companies and youth groups and the churches and organizations and individuals that donated food and money to fill the boxes.

We started out by saying how overjoyed were were to be part of all this. We hope all who participated in this year's effort were just as elated. You did a really wonderful thing. You showed what can be done when we all work together. What have we done? At a time when we celebrate the gift of love which God gave to a needy world in the birth of His Son, we have mirrored that through our actions.

The Christmas Joy Committee