The Shadow
Highlands Residents:
As we celebrate the New Year with all its possibilities, we look back over the last year and feel very blessed.
It is inspiring to see how residents of our community came together to meet the needs of neighbors even while facing cutbacks and lean times themselves. Truly these gifts were given in the spirit of Christmas.
We were blessed to be able to accept 673 into the Angel Tree program across our service area this year. Angels were adopted from the trees at Wal-mart, Kmart, LewisGale Hospital-Alleghany, Dabney S. Lancaster Community College, Jackson River Technical Center, and the Covington Paperworkers Union Local 675 office.
We realize this was a tough season, and every dollar that people gave is a dollar they wouldn’t have for their own needs. We saw a great deal of “getting back to the essentials” with the Angel Tree this year. Extravagant gifts were few and far between, having been replaced with much needed staples like school clothing, new coats and shoes. However, there were several bikes and favorites in the categories of Dora, Justin Bieber, and Transformers.
We kept the volunteers busy distributing over 2,600 new toys to children and over 2,506 articles of clothing. We knew it would be a tough year for the program and it was confirmed when 32 percent of the angels were not adopted in the Rockbridge area. Alleghany fared far better, with only 11 percent of angels not being adopted. Great job.
Thankfully, donations in the red kettles made it possible to supply new toys for those who did not get adopted.
Families received 199 grocery boxes this year, complete with a turkey or ham Christmas meal.
In addition to toys and clothing, we were able to help families who were in danger of losing vital utilities because they have had to juggle paying their bills with buying food. Not only do we help with groceries but we offer assistance with their utilities if they are in danger of being without heat, electricity or water.
For 41 families, The Salvation Army crisis assistance program prevented vital utility cutoffs by helping them catch up.
Our thanks go out to the bell ringers who make all this possible. The main fundraiser during the season is the red kettle. The Red Kettle Campaign raised an impressive $48,785.32.
Our bell ringers included: 4-H, the advisory board of The Salvation Army, Alleghany High School Family Career and Community Leaders of America, the Alleghany Highlands Free Clinic, Allen Leachy, Anna Raether, April Pettitt, Ashwood United Methodist Church, the Black Heritage Club, Bobby Downey, Bobby McKenzie, the Boiling Springs Ruritan Club, Busy Workers, the Callahan Ruritan Club, Character Counts, Charlene Downey, Cheryl Dorcas, Christian Carter, Covington High School Students for Christ, the Clifton Forge Woman’s Club, Clint Collins.
CMA, Concerned Christian Baptist Church, Constance, Covington Dialysis, Covington Junior Woman’s Club, the Covington Woman’s Club, Cub Scout Pack 26, Davita Dialysis, Debbie Woodzell, Earl Johnston, Falling Springs Presbyterian Church, the Covington Fire Department and Rescue Squad, Gospel Tabernacle Church of God in Christ, the Granbery United Methodist Church Witness Community, Senior Health Occupation Students of America, Junior Health Occupation Students of America.
Hoke Chapel United Methodist Church, J.B., Jake Adkins, JRTC Future Business Leaders of America, Junior Hartless, Junior Johnston, Key Club, Kiwanis, the Life Skills Center, LLM, Mayme Smith, MeadWestvaco, Megan McMillion, the Alleghany-Covington Ministerial Association, Mount Carmel United Methodist Church, Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church Youth, Pine Street Baptist Church, Pinnell Chapel, Ruriteen.
The Salvation Army Corps, the Alleghany County Sheriffs Office, Shirley Parker, Students for Christ, Temple Baptist Church, Teresa Grant, Tiffany Reynolds, the Covington Baptist Church Tuesday Morning Prayer Group, the Alleghany Highlands Chapter of the Virginia Tech Alumni Association, the Curtis A. Smith Post 1033 Veterans of Foreign Wars Ladies Auxiliary, Vicky Sorrell, Whitney, Taina and Vanda, and many others whose names we may have missed.
A special thank you to Wal-mart and Kmart for supporting the Angel Tree program. We thank Woodrow Rooklin for donating the perfect building for the toy shop, and area churches for partnering with us.
We also thank our wonderful staff and all the volunteers and donors who made it possible to help the individuals with food, clothing and gifts, or most importantly, a touch of joy during this Christmas season.
Thanks to the generosity of our communities, we were able to serve 496 family cases for Christmas assistance, touching the lives of 1,378 individuals.
Serving “the least of these” continues to be an incredible blessing to all of us at The Salvation Army. Thank you and God bless you.
Sincerely,
Capts. Karl and Janice Dahlin
Commanding Officers
Covington Salvation Army
