Greenville Magazine - Winter 2022

Publisher Mark Cohen Editor

Bobby Burns

Contributing writers

Pat Gruner, Karen Eckert, Mackenzie Tewksbury, Beyonca Mewborn, Emily Bronson, Ginger Livingston, Kim Grizzard Photographers

Aaron Hines

Regional Advertising Director Robin Walker

Advertising representatives Christina Ruotolo, Lewis Smith & Rubie Smith

Layout design Jasmine Blount-Coward

Greenville: Life in the East is a publication of The Daily Reflector and Adams Publishing Group ENC. Contents may not be reproduced without the consent of the publisher.

T.A. LOVING

GREAT TOY TAKEAWAY

HOLIDAY CALENDER

On the cover and page 2, children captured by photographer Aaron Hines enjoy the snow generated by a machine at the annual Greenville Gives Christmas celebration at Five Points Plaza.

Happy holidays and welcome to the latest edition of Greenville Life in the East. By now you probably have finished your Thanksgiving dinner and are well into the turkey sandwiches. I love turkey sandwiches, with white bread, lettuce and Duke’s mayo, followed by a good nap. Other people I know like to shop. With the Christmas season in full swing now, that might be a good idea. While you are shopping, please remember those who are less fortunate and consider making a purchase to help out one of the many great causes we have written about in this issue of Greenville Magazine — whose theme is people who make the season bright. People are working diligently throughout our communities to collect toys, personal hygiene items, school supplies, coats and clothing, food and more to ensure no one is left behind this holiday season. I am always impressed by the number of efforts and volunteers who approach us for coverage every year, and as many as we write about here, there are more working behind the scenes.

A few missions off the top of my head include the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, JOY Soup Kitchen, Community Crossroads Center and the Pitt County Department of Social Services, which is seeking donations for more than 200 foster children. (Visit www. pittcountyNC.gov/holidaysupport).

The efforts we covered, however, certainly capture the overarching spirit here and remind us all to make the season more about the greater community and the greater good. We thank them for their endeavors and encourage you readers to join in, like we know you already do. And if you you are a shopping minimalist like I am, maybe just pry open that wallet and make a cash donation. These folks appreciate that, too.

Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas!

ENFORCING GOOD CHEER

Greenville police holiday partnerships build community relationships

By Pat Gruner

Partnerships between Greenville police and the community are bringing holiday cheer to families who might need a helping hand during the season of giving.

The Greenville Police Department has teamed up with barbers, business owners and faith leaders to ensure no family will be without a meal, gifts or a haircut over the holiday season. The department’s Support Services programs are led by 15-year veteran Sgt. Richie Williams, who said that the spirit of service transcends public safety.

“During these times we realize there are a lot of families who are struggling,” Williams said. “The holiday season brings about a lot of added stress on these families because everyone wants a good Thanksgiving, a good Christmas.

“For us, it is about giving back through our community outreach program. It shows it’s not all about arrests and people calling you whenever they need you.”

The Cops and Barbers program that was implemented by the department in 2016 lets officers work with professionals who know their community on a more personal level. Barbers

By Aaron Hines

identify families who might be struggling, which allows GPD to focus their holiday cheer where it’s needed most.

Last year GPD worked with Pastor Rodney Coles, who operates the Toys for Tots program in Pitt County, to get toys to over 300 kids in the area. Six barbershops cooperated with the department on that project including P.I.C. Kutz on 10th Street and Unlimited Cuts Barber Shop on Dickinson Avenue.

“It really has bridged a gap between the police officer and the community,” said Demetrus Barrett, a west Greenville native and owner of P.I.C. Kutz. “And the barbers, you know, we’ve created some great relationships out of it.

“As barbers we work with the community. I guess you could call us leaders in the community. People come to us with their problems, they tell us what’s going on. We’re sort of like counselors.”

The program also hands out haircuts at local schools free of charge to ensure kids look their best during times when money might not be available for aesthetics.

“It’s a great part of doing what we do,” said Adrian Wooten

The Greenville Police Department and its officers work with barbers and business owners, faith groups and community organization to provide food, clothing and toys to people in need through the holiday season and other times during the year.

of Unlimited Cuts.

GPD is also responsible for a number of food giveaways. Last year the department partnered with Beast Philanthropy and Jennie-O to hand out turkeys and, while rising bird flu cases have limited the turkey supply so far, Williams said the department is bullheaded about ensuring families get a holiday meal with all the fixings this year too.

“We’re still going to do, on a smaller scale, a turkey giveaway,” Williams said. “Normally it’s the week before Thanksgiving.”

Chief Ted Sauls said that he and his officers will be partnering with the Winterville Police Department for its Cops on Top event, where officers get on the roof of Walmart and ask customers to grab a bike for kids in need. The department will also be closely connected to what Sauls calls “Santa Claus stuff,” events like Toys for Tots and the Pitt County Operation Santa Claus. Food deliveries are one of his personal favorite events, he said.

“We’ll be doing that again this year with Greenville Toyota and we deliver them ourselves,” Sauls said. “Just to see the face of a man or a woman when they open the door and you give them a full meal for Christmas, they’re seeing you in a different light. There are a lot of perceptions of what we are and what we are not.”

That public perception, to Sauls and Williams, is an integral part of holiday outreach for both youths and adults.

“When you can give back, especially through the badge, it gives the community a chance to see us in that different light,” Williams said. “Not just negatives, positives, which is good for the officers. It motivates them to do the work of outreach.

“Hopefully, we can plant that seed in a kid’s mind that, ‘Oh, when I first got my Tonka truck toy it was from an officer from Greenville PD.’ That just goes a long way.”

Coles, an advocate for youth empowerment who also founded Pitt County’s Churches Outreach Network, said the support program’s impression on young people is obvious and based in a simple tenet – empathy.

“I’ve seen a change in the young one’s hearts,” Coles said. “Behind the uniform there’s a man, a father, a grandfather and a person that loves you. I think people get caught up with the costume, what they have on, and prejudge them. Knowing they can laugh, can joke, have compassion.”

For young people, seeing is essential to believing the pastor said.

“You can’t tell them anything,” Coles said. “They see it for themselves and that’s the most important thing.”

OPERATION SANTA CLAUS

By Karen Eckert

Legend has it that Santa Claus runs quite an operation at the North Pole with his elves, reindeer and sleigh.

A local campaign that provides Christmas presents for children each year through The Salvation Army and Pitt County Schools has taken a page from Santa’s playbook.

“Operation Santa Claus,” led by Greenville Fire-Rescue in partnership with Inner Banks Media, is underway now and runs through Dec. 13.

There are many moving parts to this long-standing endeavor, now in its 34th year, according to Jessica Blackwell, the fire department's safety educator and public information officer for Greenville Fire-Rescue.

The operation was started by an individual firefighter who was really interested in helping the community and it has grown and developed over the years and now includes many organizations, Blackwell said.

“Every piece of this is a collaboration,” she said

By Aaron Hines

Toy Collection

The “workshop” for Operation Santa Claus extends throughout Pitt County with many locales serving as collection sites for new, unwrapped toys.

Blackwell said people can drop off donations at any of the six Greenville Fire-Rescue stations, the Greenville Police Department, Greenville-Pitt County Chamber of Commerce, Greenville City Hall, Greenville Municipal Building, Pitt County Courthouse and Greenville Utilities Commission.

In addition, schools in Pitt County participate in the collection-box effort with students from individual classrooms donating toys and even helping to decorate the boxes, Blackwell said.

Students participate in a contest to see which class can collect the most toys, and the winning class receives a pizza party provided by Fire-Rescue.

Schools also compete to see which one can produce the most creatively decorated collection boxes. The winning

Fire department toy drive has grown into a community collaboration

Greenville Fire-Rescue personnel work with social workers and educators from Pitt County Schools to fill wish lists during the Operation Santa Claus distribution day each years at Station 6 on 10th Street.

school receives a trophy, Blackwell said.

“We try to make it as fun and creative as possible,” she said.

In addition to schools, private businesses often host collection boxes, encouraging their employees and customers to donate, Blackwell said.

There also is usually a big toy drive on the first Saturday of December at both of the Walmart Supercenters, 4600 E. 10th St. and 210 S.W. Greenville Blvd., according to Alicia Brooks, with The Salvation Army of Pitt County.

Fire-Rescue brings out a fire truck and provides collection boxes, according to Brooks.

“It’s a great day!” she said.

Fundraising

Two events sponsored by Inner Banks Media, help raise money to purchase toys, according to Henry Hinton, president, and host of “Talk of the Town” on WTIB.

The first is a radiothon to be held from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2, during which listeners will be encouraged to make monetary donations in a drive-through line at Great Harvest Bread Company at the corner of Evans Street and Plaza Drive.

All of the funds will go toward Operation Santa Claus, according to Hinton.

Past events have yielded more than $60,000, he said.

At the event, in addition to cash or checks, people will also be able to donate new, unwrapped toys and new or gently used coats.

“More than generous” is how Hinton describes the community’s response at previous radiothons.

“It's a festive atmosphere and people seem very willing to be involved to help others in the spirit of the holidays,” Hinton said.

Local celebrities, sports figures and community leaders will be on hand and Fire-Rescue trucks are usually on site, according to event organizers.

Hinton recalls that he has been contacted  by some of the families who have benefitted from and were so thankful for the efforts of Operation Santa Claus.

“One lady called me and said she didn't have coats for her kids and she was embarrassed they had to go to the bus stop during the cold winter months without a proper coat. Now, they had new coats and they were so thankful. That type of thing makes all the  work we put into this worth it,” he said.

The second fundraising event is the annual Embers Christmas Show, which will be at 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 19, at Reimage Church, 3950 Victory Lane, in Winterville.

“The Embers Christmas Show has become a local favorite,”  Hinton said.

“Craig Woolard (the Embers’ lead singer) is such an amazing entertainer.  It's like watching the old Andy Williams Christmas Specials live with all the old Christmas favorites and sacred songs as well.  It's become a hot ticket locally.”

Tickets are on sale now with information available at wtibfm.com.

“We sell the tickets and give every dollar from the ticket sales to (Operation Santa Claus) to increase the amount of money we have to use for local families. We sell between 900-1,000  tickets every year,” he said.

Families in Need

While the collection boxes and fundraisers are very public events, there is a portion of Operation Santa Claus that happens behind the scenes, according to Brooks.

The Salvation Army, along with the Pitt County Schools, work together to identify families in need or in a crisis situation and then see that the families are provided for, Brooks said.

As early as October, social workers at individual schools begin assessing the needs of their students, according to Kim Anderson, lead school social worker, and McKinney Vento, district liaison for Pitt County Schools.

“We do that in collaboration with our student services teams,” Anderson said.

School counselors help the social workers identify and connect with families that need resources, she said.

And this year the need is great, according to Anderson.

There are more families in need than people might think, she said.

“With inflation, layoffs and evictions, even working families are having to tap into community resources for additional support with everything,” Anderson said.

“So that’s what we find this year, that it’s affecting everybody. It’s impacting everybody’s pocket,” she said.

“It’s a really fantastic machine that really works together,” Brooks said, referring to the collaboration between The Salvation Army and the school system.

It takes everybody doing their part, she said.

Blackwell said that the feedback from the community about Operation Santa Claus has been “super positive.”

Distribution

Once funds are raised and toys are collected or purchased and the families are identified, it is time to distribute the gifts.

The North Pole Santa uses reindeer and a sleigh, but the “elves” at Operation Santa are more likely to use a car – or a fire truck.

On the morning of Dec. 13, Fire-Rescue will pick up the collection boxes and transport all the donations to the Emergency Operation Center behind Station 6, where the gifts will be sorted and organized, according to Blackwell.

On Dec. 15 social workers will arrive at the station with lists in hand to select gifts for their students.

“They pack up their cars and we help them and everything’s free,” Blackwell said. “It’s super fun!”

“The community is really invested in (Operation Santa Claus) and I don’t know if they realize how much,” Anderson said.

What amazes Anderson at this time of the year is the generosity of the community, she said.

Sometimes there is a concern that there won’t be enough gifts, considering that there are so many people with needs, she said.

“(But) every year there are more than enough gifts,” Anderson said.

“We really just look forward to the partnership with Salvation Army and the fire station and … we feel like we’re really making a difference in families’ lives,” she said.

After shopping at the Emergency Operations Center, the social workers deliver the gifts to the parents at home. Parents often like to see the gifts before they are wrapped and they like to wrap the gifts themselves, Anderson said.

The social workers often supply wrapping paper for the parents, she said.

In addition to the schools, the project supplies the Salvation Army with toys and gifts for its holiday outreach.

Blackwell said that this year the firefighters are going to do something a little extra.

Operation Santa Claus has grown from the effort of an individual firefighter to a collaboration among the Greenville Fire-Rescue, Pitt County Schools, the Salvation Army, Inner Banks Media, local government to identify families in need and ensure the Christmas is bright.

Last year they selected one particular family and delivered the gifts themselves via fire truck. But this year each fire station is going to sponsor one family, for a total of six families, and firefighters at each station will wrap gifts and deliver them to an individual family, Blackwell said.

In addition, the firefighters will provide the families with clothes and gift cards for food. The family has to have an obvious need vetted through The Salvation Army, Blackwell said.

The firefighters did this for one family last year and “it’s super fun to be a part of,” Blackwell said.

“It’s very humbling.”

For more information about Operation Santa Claus, contact Jessica Blackwell at 252-329-4679 or Jbblackwell@ greenvillenc.gov.

WANT TO HELP?

TOY COLLECTION SITES THROUGH DEC. 13

• Any of the six Greenville Fire-Rescue Stations

• Greenville Police Department

• Greenville-Pitt Chamber of Commerce

• Greenville City Hall

• Greenville Municipal Building

• Pitt County Courthouse

• Greenville Utilities Commission

RADIOTHON DEC. 2

7 a.m.-3 p.m. at Great Harvest Bread Co., 2803 Evans St. Bring cash, checks, new toys, new or gently-used coats. Live broadcast on 107.9 with updates on 103.7 until 3 p.m.; fire personnel on hand

TOY DRIVE DEC. 3

10 a.m.-2 p.m. at both Walmart Supercenters, 4600 E. 10th St. and 210 Greenville Blvd. S.W.

EMBERS CONCERT, DEC. 19

7 p.m. at Reimage Church, 3950 Victory Lane, Winterville Tickets are $20, children 10 and younger free. Visit wtibfm. com/.

TOYS FOR TOTS

Volunteers help give children, and parents, reason to smile

By Mackenzie Tewksbury

When Peggy Key was a child, she remembers opening old, bald baby dolls and a fruit bag on Christmas morning. She also painfully remembers telling her own children that she had to use her only $600 to pay rent instead of getting them Christmas presents.

But last Christmas, Key had tears in her eyes as she watched all three of her grandchildren open brand new bicycles on Christmas morning.

“They we’re all lucky enough to get new bikes. They also got sweaters, baby dolls (with hair!), and pocketbooks. They were so happy,” she said. “Without Toys for Tots, none of it would’ve been possible.”

The U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is a nationwide mission created to collect new toys for children ages birth to 12 and distribute them in hopes to spread the joy of the holiday season to less fortunate families.

In its 75th year, the program helps thousands of children and families all over the country. The Rev. Rodney Coles

with Churches Outreach Network has been the coordinator of Toys for Tots in Pitt County for 14 years. He works with organizations such as Brown and Wood Auto, First Presbyterian Church, Two men and A Truck, WITN and local authorities to get toys in the hands of as many children as he can. In 2021, Coles said Toys for Tots helped 29,803 children in Pitt County alone.

For Coles, the mission’s most important impact is that it brings joy and relief to the whole family.

“The child doesn’t care about the bills, the rent, the car payment … they want to have fun,” Coles said. “It brings a smile to the child’s face and the parent’s when they are up against a wall and don’t have finances to get toys and they can get the toys from us.”

Perhaps no one knows this more than Key, who has been using the Toys for Tots program for 10 years. Key knows firsthand what it feels like to not be able to buy toys for her children, and what it feels like to not get any toys. But for the

Rodney and Deborah Coles have been coordinating Toys for Tots in Pitt County for 14 years. (The Daily Reflector)

past 10 years, that feeling has subsided thanks to Toys for Tots. She’s been able to watch her grandchildren open presents, and it not only made them happy, but was a relief for her as well.

“What I didn’t have, they stepped in and helped me. It’s really what got me through a lot of Christmases,” Key said.

Kristie Wooten — Coles’ calls her superwoman — has been donating to Toys for Tots and taking her own children to sort through toys for years. When she became the chair of missions at First Presbyterian Church, she was looking for ways to expand their mission work, and Toys for Tots became an opportunity to do that.

“It was our light bulb moment; Coles’ needed the space; we had the space at the church. It was a phenomenal opportunity to partner with him to be not only boots on the ground but be the hands and feet of this mission and start the season off.”

The mission of Toys for Tots begins long before children just like Key’s tear open toys on Christmas morning. The community is asked to drop off toys for ages infant to 12 at WITN starting in October. After they are collected, they are brought over to First Presbyterian Church’s fellowship hall by Two Men and Truck. There, they are met by eager volunteers, waiting to put dolls, toy cars, puzzles, board games, electronics and more into plastic bags. For the next several hours, toys will arrive, and volunteers will sort them by age group.

Wooten said when she gets home, she is exhausted, but she doesn’t feel it; the love in the room keeps her energized. But her favorite part is watching people come together to help others.

“When you have to turn volunteers away … that says something. There are people whose hearts are overflowing,” she said. “There is so much good. People’s hearts are good. They want to help. They want to do good for others.”

Key said she is thankful for all the work that goes into the Toys for Tots program and how it has helped her family and many others. After years of struggling on Christmas, Key can know her grandchildren will have something under the tree, and for her, that’s what matters.

“The smiles it puts on a little kid’s face … what more can you ask for? Seriously, what more could you want?”

“When you have to turn volunteers away…that says something. There are people whose hearts are overflowing...”

Kristie Wooten, right, missions director at First Presbyterian Church in Greenville, with volunteer Mary John Pabst, says working with Toys For Tots has been a phenomenal partnership. (Contributed Photos)

CARING FOR FOSTER KIDS

Sponsors make sure children feel loved in Beaufort County

By Beyonca Mewborn

Giving is a staple of the holiday season, and the Beaufort County Department of Social Services has more than one good reason. They have been compiling a list of organizations, church groups, families and individuals who can donate gifts for their annual Christmas Project for local foster children.

Karen Chrisman has been with the Beaufort County DSS for 17 years supervising foster care, foster home licensing and adoption. She said the agency currently has 108 children in licensed foster homes, group homes and residential placement.

“We have a program where we ask the community to sponsor our children for Christmas to help supplement what they get for Christmas by purchasing them gifts,” said Chrisman.

The ages of the children range from birth to 21 years of age because of their extended foster care program for 18 to 21 year olds. All the children make a list of all the gifts that they want to receive for Christmas and those lists are given to donors.

Community volunteer Lauren Riddick matches each kid with a donor and distributes the gifts that are delivered to

DSS after the sponsors have gone shopping.

Riddick is a retiree and has been the community coordinator for this Christmas project for about 13 years. “I love being able to do something for people who advocate for children and to help them make their lives a little better than they might otherwise be,” said Riddick.

Riddick said she hopes it gives them a feeling that somebody cares about them outside of the immediate situation that they're in, and that there are other people who care that are willing and wanting to support them.

Aside from the older children who are aware that they are being sponsored by donors, Riddick said most of the younger

ones receive them as if they came from Santa Claus.

“I guess I would imagine maybe they just feel a little more confident that they are being looked after,” said Riddick. “When they're pulled out of a home and taken away, sometimes with nothing, or whatever doll or toy they’re holding in their hands, I would imagine that it's kind of a scary feeling, and then to have something of their own that's theirs may just give them a little bit more confidence, and a little more strength to to keep on going.”

There is one lady who sponsors a child every year, and Riddick said she goes out of her way to make the gifts extra special for them.  w“She always has a container to put the gifts

in, she always gets some candy canes and decorations just to make the box look prettier, and the child will have a box that they can keep things in for themselves,” said Riddick.

That lady, Ann Cherry, said that the Christmas project is close to her heart and that she has been very much involved for the past 15 years as a sponsor on a personal level and with her Sunday school class from First United Methodist Church in Washington.

“I got the little project started where we purchased the big tubs to put  their items in, so when they do have to move or change around, they will have some way of securing their items, and to take them with them easily,” said Cherry. “This has been very rewarding to us just knowing that we can help the children to have a wonderful Christmas, and to have some peace and joy in their hearts.”

Cherry was an only child raised by a single parent and she said she knows what it feels like and what it means to have some special little things given to you through your life, especially through the holidays. “One year there was a young lady that was really interested in sewing, and I purchased her a small portable sewing machine,” said Cherry. “So anything we can do to be a joy to them we certainly look forward to. She said that their greatest hope would be to see the faces of the children when they open their gifts, but they know that it's not not possible. However, they are still in their hearts and minds.”

Chrisman said that the children’s wish lists range in items from dolls, action figures, skates, skateboards, gaming systems, sneakers and clothing. Riddick said that school supplies are always little extras that the children can benefit from as well.

Every year they always end up with all of the children sponsored but sometimes they get last minute placement of children within days of Christmas, so monetary donations are accepted as well. “We have a program called the Kiwanis Children’s Fund for those who would rather donate than sponsor, so if we don't have enough sponsors we can purchase the gifts for the children with those funds,” said Chrisman.

According to Riddick records they have 86 of the 108 children sponsored as of Nov. 8 and are receiving donations and sponsors up until Christmas Eve.

“At the beginning of October we sent out letters in the newspaper, we sent out flyers to doctor's offices and local businesses, we sent out letters to the people that have sponsored in the past to remind them about the program, and so a lot of people that have sponsored every year continue to do so,” said Chrisman.

You do not have to be from Beaufort County to sponsor one of the children or to give a monetary donation.

“I just want to say how thankful we have been and how well the community has always sponsored this program and continues to,” said Riddick. “We have people in Greenville that sponsor children. I've got one lady in Ohio that sponsors. Her mother lived here and went home to God a year or two ago and she always liked to do things for children, so her mother’s dying request was that she do things in her honor for children. So last year and this year she sponsored a child and sends the gifts to me. And we have a lady in Raleigh who sponsors for similar reasons.

“I think we all begin to think a little more about how fortunate we are and how blessed we are and we're thinking about Christmas and that baby in the manger, and what he did for us when he went to the cross and died for us,” said Riddick. “He has given us everything that we could possibly want and what he wants from us is to share that.”

Riddick said she thinks that the holidays bring out the best in us, wanting to give back out of thankfulness for what the Lord has done for all of us, and the only thing that could be better is if we kept that same spirit of love and giving all year long.

Anyone interested in being matched with a foster child can contact Riddick at 252-943-5643. Those who wish to make a financial contribution can mail a check to Kiwanis Special Youth Fund, P.O. Box 2711, Washington, NC 27889.

Stocking Stuffers

Local quilter, Packs 4 Patriots take care of troops

By Emily Bronson

While the holiday season has just begun, an Ayden-based nonprofit has been working overtime since September to stuff stockings for American service people all over the world.

NC Packs 4 Patriots creates care packages for military men and women and ships them year-round to service members stationed overseas. Even though the work is nonstop, there is something special about the holiday gifts, said Barabara Whitehead, founder of the organization.

“It’s to provide them with not only a touch of home, but also it is to show them the appreciation and care from America,” Whitehead said.

An added touch is that the stockings are hand-made by a volunteer quilter from Greenville who uses fabric donations from the community to make them every year.

Chris Harris, a member of the Greenville Quilters Guild, has sewn hundreds of custom stockings for the effort over the last year. With different patterns and fabrics, each recipient receives a one-of-akind gift.

“It is absolutely amazing,” Whitehead said. “They are beautiful stockings. People in the community donate the material for the stockings and she sews them and irons them. They aren’t just two pieces of material sewn together. They have beautiful trim on them.”

After they are made and pressed, a group of volunteers from the organization packs them with “goodies,” Whitehead said.

“They (stockings) are smaller than regular stockings so we can get more in a package that we are mailing because postage is always a cloud over our organization,” Whitehead said.

Trail mix, nabs, crackers, hot chocolate packages, candy, candy canes and personal greeting cards from volunteers are placed in the packages before they are sent out.

NC Packs 4 Patriots is in its 18th year of operation, and roughly its third year of packing and sending out stockings during the holiday season, Whitehead said. It supports all military branches and it is run by local volunteers.

Whitehead has a personal tie to the military so she knows just how special it is to receive a gift or memento from home, she said.

A small army of volunteers helps NC Packs 4 Patriots pull off a year-round effort to send gifts and supplies to U.S. armed service members stationed overseas, but the work is particularly busy, and meaningful during the holidays, organizer Barbara Whitehead said.

“My favorite part is knowing I made somebody’s Christmas...”

“I’m the mom of two soldiers, one soldier and one veteran now,” Whitehead said. “And I know the impact that cards and letters from home or a touch of home means to them when they are so far away, especially if they are in a dangerous area.”

The stockings have been sent all around the world, Whitehead said. They have ended up in the hands of American servicemen on every continent except for Antarctica, she said.

Some service members have gotten back to the organization to send their gratitude for the gift.  “It’s really humbling to hear them say that they have held something in their hand that came from America, ” Whitehead said.

Whitehead said she continues on with Packs 4 Patriots after 18 years because she realizes how much it means to service members who cannot come home for the holidays.

“We are so proud of them for standing up,” Whitehead said. “You know we have a military force that is all-volunteer, and they have stood up to not only defend our country but the entire world.”

The organization starts preparing the handmade stockings in September, Whitehead said. Though most people are just starting to think about Christmas, Packs 4 Patriots is in the full holiday swing.

The volunteers have already packed stockings for hundreds of troops. “Right now at our center, it is like the North Pole,” Whitehead said. “We call it the North Pole Southern Branch.”

The organization is always accepting donations. They also welcome groups who wish to come in and help put together the stockings and packages to send overseas, Whitehead said.

Monetary donations are much appreciated as well, she said. They will be used to help fund the postage for these packages.

“We’ve sent some stockings out already,” Whitehead said. “We’ve packed some and have them ready to mail and there’s a few more, maybe 100 that have not been filled yet.”

Not only does NC Packs 4 Patriots send soldiers stockings during the holidays, but they also send small faux Christmas trees and a few decorations to help spread some holiday

cheer overseas, Whitehead said.

They send handmade ornaments made by local children and senior citizens to hang on the trees that are sent with the stockings.

“It comes from the heart,” Whitehead said. “It’s absolutely a labor of love.”

Harris, the quilter who continues to make the stockings, said she originally made them for an event her church put on every Christmas.

One year, it was brought to her congregation’s attention that Packs 4 Patriots needed donations for their Christmas care packages.

That’s when Harris asked Whitehead if she wanted the leftover stockings from her church’s Christmas event.

Harris started making the quilted stockings is a blessing because she was involved in a car wreck a year ago and broke her back. She can no longer stand for long periods of time, she said.

“Last year, I made a total of 1,697 stockings,” Harris said. “If you are familiar with quilting, you’ll know you stand up to cut your quilts out before you start. I can’t do that. So, to me these stockings were almost a God-send because I do just about everything on these stockings sitting down.”

Harris is originally from Germany, she said. That is where she met her husband, who was in the U.S. military.

She understands how nice it is for military personnel to know that someone from back home is thinking of them during the holidays.

Community support she has received from people donating fabric and extra material to make the stockings is overwhelming, she said.

It is almost impossible to afford fabric to make hundreds of stockings, she said.

“I will have to say, I am not bashful to hit you up for Christmas fabric,” Harris said.

Anyone who wants to donate material can take it to Greenville Vacuum and Sewing on 1912 E. Fire Tower Road.

“My favorite part is knowing I made somebody’s Christmas,” Harris said.

T.A. LOVING

By Ginger Livingston

Few things can spark a child’s sense of wonder and excitement as the sight of a twinkling Christmas tree surrounded by presents, but a bulldozer pushing a mound of dirt comes pretty close.

The employees of T.A. Loving Company have seen both.

Eleven years ago the Goldsboro-based construction company was building the James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital at ECU Health Medical Center.

As the building pad was leveled, the concrete elevator shafts built and the steel skeleton erected, the construction workers would catch sight of tiny faces watching their work. They were patients from the existing children’s hospital wing. Medical staff told workers that watching the construction work was the highlight of the day for children who were spending weeks and months inside the hospital’s walls.

So the crew put up a Christmas tree and wrapped the crane’s  210-foot boom with 8,000 lights, according to a 2011 report in The Daily Reflector. The Christmas spirit didn’t stop there.

The children’s hospital opened in 2013 and T.A. Loving has moved on to dozens of other construction projects.

But for 11 years workers have returned to the children’s hospital every Christmas bearing truckloads of gifts for the young patients and their families.

“It’s important to give back to the community that has given so much to us,” said David Philya, co-president of T.A. Loving Company. “And kids, they are easy to get behind.”

The on-site construction team  reached out to their fellow employees, subcontractors, engineers, designers and others they worked with, Philya said. The gifts leaned toward construction related toys—dump trucks, cranes, bulldozers — but the selection quickly expanded to meet the varied interests of children.

That first year, a half-dozen construction workers used the site’s 150-foot crane to deliver the first collection of gifts a week before Christmas. Ten young patients welcomed them.

“Maybe the first year it might have been a case of while we’re here let’s do this, but I think it very quickly became a case of let’s do this in perpetuity, until they tell us they

don’t need it anymore. I don’t think that will be the case,” Philya said.

“A lot of people know and expect the toy drive, they just need a reminder,” said Jared Henry, a T.A. Loving project manager, who had organized the toy drive for three years.

The company tries to create a spectacle with every year’s delivery. A crane no longer fits in the children’s hospital parking lot, but last year a flat-screen TV was mounted to the side of an equipment truck and played a video of a crackling fire in a decorated fireplace while the toys were unloaded.

“I think it is amazing,” said Kathryn Jarvis, manager of children’s services with the James and Connie Maynard Children’s Hospital and a manager of the child life specialist team.

“Every year they come and they are so nice. You can tell they enjoy it,” Jarvis said. “Every year they help us unload all the stuff that they bring. Just the joy they bring with them is infectious.”

Jarvis has a special appreciation for the donations given by T.A. Loving and other individuals and organizations in the community.

She’s witnessed the happiness of children and families who received the gifts. She’s also experienced the gratitude of a parent whose child received the gifts.

Jarvis joined the children’s hospital nursing staff in 2014. She saw they were a powerful tonic for the patients, their families and for herself.

“It was the best feeling. I specifically remember going into one room to give a little boy his toys and he was asleep and I just remember the excitement I had knowing he was going to wake up in a place where he didn’t want to be on Christmas and was going to wake up and have gifts to open on Christmas Day,” Jarvis said. “It made working on Christmas completely worth it.”

Along with gifts for the patients, the hospital gives gifts to their siblings, she said. That is a gift to parents who are exhausted, stressed and don’t have time to shop for Christmas.

Then in 2018 Jarvis found herself spending Christmas Eve

Kathryn Jarvis, Rusty Woolard, Tom Daniel, Jason Arnold, and Matt Flake move toys during T.A. Loving’s annual toy donation for kids in James and Connie Maynard Children’s hospital in 2021.

Myron Albright, Mark Lindsay and Linn Moore of T.A. Loving Company bring bags full of toys to James and Connie Maynard Children's hospital in 2021.

Kathryn Jarvis, manager of children's services at the James and Connie Maynard Children's Hospital at ECU Health Medical Center, experienced the blessing of receiving a donation of toys when her then 6-month-old son Logan spent Christmas in the hospital with an RSV infection. (Contributed photos)

night in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit. Her first born son, Logan, had contracted RSV,  a viral infection that causes bronchiolitis in children under the age of 1. He was 6 months old.

Jarvis and her husband were celebrating Logan’s first Christmas in Columbia with family. He had been struggling with a cold for about five days, but the symptoms worsened on Dec. 23.

“I could tell he was really working to breathe. The breathing is what really worried me and that’s when I told my husband we have to get him to the ED (emergency department) now,” she said. They traveled more than 30 miles to what was then Vidant Chowan Hospital (now ECU Health Chowan Hospital). Once diagnosed, Daniel was airlifted to Vidant Health Medical Center (now ECU Health Medical Center) and immediately placed on high flow oxygen.  Kathryn had completely forgotten about Christmas. All she wanted was for her little boy to breathe easier.

However, a nurse she worked with brought in a small decorated Christmas tree.

“He was pretty sick that night. He was on oxygen and sleeping a lot,” Jarvis said. “He saw it before he got out of  ICU and he liked the lights and music.”

The family then got a visit from one of Santa’s helpers.

“One of the child life specialists, a little elf, came in and brought a huge bag of toys and books and clothes that were

right for his age,” Jarvis said. “I just broke down crying. I hadn’t thought about Christmas or presents because I was so worried about him getting better. To see that come in and be under his tree. We opened them and he got to play with some of the toys and we read some of the books.  It brought a lot of joy to this mama’s heart during a very stressful time.”

As his dad, Daniel, held him, Logan watched the sparkling tree and the colorful presents. Some of the toys played music, which he loved.

“The smiles were short lived that day, unfortunately, but I think getting to see the lights and the colorful toys, some that played music, I think it made him smile for a little while. It made our hearts happy to see him smile,” Jarvis said.

Logan spent Dec. 23-24 ICU but was transferred to a regular pediatric bed on Christmas Day. He went home Dec. 26.

His Christmas gifts were more than a temporary balm during a stressful time.

One present was a toy aquarium that was attached to his crib and played music. Today, the toy is attached to the crib of his brother Sawyer, who was born in late September.

“I just hope (T.A. Loving) knows of the impact they have on the staff,” Jarvis said. “We could not do what we do at Christmas for the patients and their siblings without their donations. I hope they know the impact they make on us, the staff at children’s hospital, but especially the families.”

The gift-giving at the Maynard Children’s Hospital was only the start, Philya said. The company makes a similar donation of gifts to the pediatric unit at Wayne UNC Health Care.

The company also hosts an annual skeet shooting competition to raise money for other charities. Philya said during the last eight years the competition has generated between $350,000 - $400,00 for Vidant Health Foundation, the American Cancer Society and three charities in Goldsboro.

In recent years the T.A. Loving team hasn’t been able to interact with the children because of COVID-19 safety protocols. However, doctors, nurses and other hospital staff greet them and share stories about what the gifts have meant to their patients and their families.

“A lot of times they’ll tell a story about the impact they have. When you hear a story about how it actually impacts a family, that a toy that you got from Walmart that brightens someone's day, that’s more than just a toy there,” Henry said.

Pediatric patients and their families choose toys from a frontloader as part of a toy drive initiative by the T.A. Loving construction workers at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville.

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GREAT TOY TAKEAWAY

Even moving to Virginia doesn’t stop girl from giving to Greenville

By Kim Grizzard

At an age when many children’s concept of Christmas is sitting on Santa’s lap and telling him what presents they want under the tree, Bailey Bliven had an idea for getting a nonprofit organization on its feet to help other kids see their Christmas wishes come true.

At 5 years old, Bailey told her mother that she wanted to give some of her toys to children that might not see a single gift when they awoke on Christmas morning. Touched by her daughter’s sincere gesture, Robin Bliven helped it grow into the Great Toy Takeaway, providing thousands of new and gently used free toys for hundreds of families each year.

Nearly a decade later, the effort has encountered a list of challenges, including COVID-19, a decline in donations and the founders’ move to another state. But even from a distance, the Blivens remain determined that the Great Toy Takeaway will not be taken away from the families of eastern North Carolina who have come to count on it to make their Christmases complete.

The ninth annual event, scheduled for Dec. 17-18 at the Pitt

County Fairgrounds, will be the second since the family moved to Chesapeake, Virginia, where Robin serves as outreach director at Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind.

“When I told Bailey that we were moving, one of her conditions was immediately, ‘What about Toy Takeaway?’” Robin recalled. “I said, ‘We’ll make it happen.’ So we do.”

For the Bliven family, that means a 125-mile trip to Greenville to help oversee the nonprofit operation, which has inspired a similar effort in Raleigh.

“That’s started by one of my very good friends who always came to Greenville and helped with ours,” Robin said. “Now with her church has started one in the Triangle and they have 600 families as well.”

The Great Toy Takeaway does not require an application to participate; there are no income restrictions. While there is a limit to the number of toys each shopper can take away, the event is open to everyone. Even gift-wrapping is free.

Since 2014, the effort, which started as free yard sale for about 100 families, has expanded to involve more than 100

Bailey Bliven, 10, and her sister, Lily, 8, at left in 2019, sit near the mountain of toys collected by Bailey’s Great Toy Takeaway, an effort that she and her mother Robin, started when Bailey was 5. Robin and Bailey are shown here in 2015.

“When she was 7, one of the volunteers came up to her (and said), ‘Congratulations, kid. You can get into any college you want,’” Robin said, laughing. “(Bailey) was like, ‘What? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’”

In reality, although Bailey and her younger sister, Lily, 11, cannot remember a single Christmas without it, the time spent on Toy Takeaway has taken away from some of the family’s own Christmas preparations. For as long as they can remember, Decembers have been filled with more sorting than shopping, more boxing than baking, more packing than parties.

Although Robin said that a core group of Greenville volunteers is instrumental in helping to collect donations and transport them to and from storage, she and her daughters routinely turn down early December invitations to fulfill their commitment to Toy Takeaway.

“I regularly put up a Facebook post that says, ‘Here’s your notice that I will be a terrible friend and employee. Don’t ask me for anything. Don’t call me. You will get your presents when you get them. There will be no Christmas cards,’” she said.

“Generally December is just crazy with this. Any of the preChristmas kinds of things people want to do, I’m like, ‘Sorry, Toy Takeaway.’ You just let it go.”

But the Blivens said it is worth the sacrifice to help families who might not otherwise have anything under the tree for their children. Held just a week before Christmas, Toy

Takeaway sometimes acts as a safety net for families that missed application deadlines, did not qualify for some other programs or experienced last-minute financial trouble.

When Toy Takeaway made its first Facebook posts for this year’s event, people from as far away as New York and Florida responded by saying that they needed toys for Christmas. Coming weeks ahead of the Dec. 1 opening of sign-ups, the messages are a signal that the Blivens’ help is still needed, encouraging them to press on with the effort that has brought smiles to the faces of many children they will never see.

“It is both the best day of the year and the hardest day of the year,” Robin said. “It is exhausting in the best possible way.

“When the people actually start coming and the whole process starts working, that’s my favorite part is knowing that this is working, knowing that we did it again,” she said. “It’s just nice to see.”

Donations of new and gently used toys are accepted through Dec. 15 at the following locations: Eastern Plumbing, Hardee Recycling, Matt Smith All-State, Pitt County 4-H, Ricci Law Firm, Soundfeet Shoes, Space Cadets and Speedway locations in Pitt County. Signups to receive toys begin Dec. 1. Visit toytakeaway. org or facebook.com/ToyTakeAway.

The toy take away started at the National Guard Armory but this year will be at the Pitt County Fairgrounds Dec. 17-18.

Santa Claus brings up the rear of the Greenville Christmas parade atop a Fire-Rescue engine on Evans Street. This year’s parade is set for 5 p.m. Dec. 3.

Light at the Refuge

Light at the Refuge will be held from 5:30-9 p.m. Nov. 2526, Dec. 1-3, Dec. 8-10, Dec. 15-17 and Dec. 19-23 at 1380 Lower Field Road, Ayden. The event includes a live Nativity scene and other displays to spotlight the biblical message that Christians celebrate at Christmas. There is no admission charge, but donations are accepted. Visit ncrefuge.org or facebook.com/NCRefuge.

Festival of Trees

The Family Support Network of Eastern N.C. will host the 27th annual Festival of Trees from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays from Nov. 28 through Dec. 23 at the Greenville Convention Center, 303 S.W. Greenville Blvd. There is no admission charge. The event features a variety of holiday-themed trees, sponsored by various local individuals, businesses, and church and civic organizations. Visit fsnenc.org.

Journey to Bethlehem

Covenant Church will host the interactive tour through a reenacted Bethlehem from 6-8 p.m. Nov. 29-Dec. 2. Participants will go on a 45-minute guided tour designed to help them understand what it was like the night Jesus was born. The event will include actors and animals and a place to stop for snacks and crafts. The event will be held at 4005 Corey Road, Building A. Free, but space is limited. Visit covenant.cc/events.

Christmas Town

Christmas Town in Ayden will be held from 4-8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, in downtown Ayden. The event will include hot chocolate, a visit with Santa and a Christmas market, followed by a parade of lights at 6:30 p.m.

‘Cinderella A Tale Retold’

Magnolia Arts Center, 1703 E. 14th St., will host performances of “Cinderella – A Tale Retold” at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 1-4 and Dec. 8-10. Additional matinee performances are scheduled for 2 p.m. Dec. 3-4 and Dec. 10. The play, which includes the days leading up to the royal ball, tells the story of Cinderella as a girl who does not necessarily need a prince to save her. Tickets are $20 for the general public and $15 for students and seniors. Visit magnoliaartscenter.com.

Jingle Art Jam

Emerge Gallery, 404 S. Evans St., will host its Jingle Art Jam fundraiser from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1. The members-only event will provide early access to the Holiday Artist Market. It also will include live music, an art activity, a free photo booth and beer and wine tastings from Coastal Beverage. Proceeds go toward the Art is Good Medicine outreach program. Visit emergegallery.com for memberships.

Greenville Gives

The City of Greenville and Uptown Greenville will host Greenville Gives from 4:30-7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2, at Five Points Plaza, Evans and Fifth streets. The donation collection event will include a visits with Santa, a tree lighting, a holiday market, crafts, marshmallow roasting, Christmas story reading and holiday entertainment. Call 329-4567 or visit greenvillenc.gov.

Farmville Tree Lighting

Annual Christmas Tree Lighting at 6 p.m. Dec. 2. The event will be held at the Walter B. Jones Town Common and will feature Christmas music, food, activities for the children and a visit from Santa Claus.

Sounds of the Season

East Carolina University School of Music will host Sounds of the Season at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 401 E. Fourth St. The event will feature ECU Chamber Singers, University Chorale and Concert Choir. Call 328-6851.

A Taste of Farmville

Come shop and experience the wonders of Christmas during Taste of Farmville event 6:30 to 9 p.m. Dec. 2. Enjoy extended shopping hours, refreshments and music from our local merchants.

TubaChristmas

East Carolina University School of Music will host TubaChristmas at noon and 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, at the Proctor-Yongue House, 601 E. Fifth St. Free. Email Dr. williamsjarr17@ecu.edu.

Homes Tour

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church will host its 21st annual Christmas Homes Tour from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, Dec 3. The tour will include five Greenville homes decorated for Christmas. Tickets are $25 and are available at www.stpaulsepiscopal. com. Proceeds will benefit the Community Crossroads Center.

Holiday Concert

Home for the Holidays, a concert performance, will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, at Turnage Theatre, 150 W. Main St., Washington, N.C. The concert will feature Greenville native an ECU alumni Kristin Wetherington, who was recently featured in ECU Summer Theater’s “Mamma Mia,” along with several guest performers. Tickets are $25. Visit artsofthepamlico.org.

Grifton Parade

The Grifton Christmas Parade will be held at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 3, and will include food and craft venders before the parade by the town common beginning at 1 p.m. Anyone who would like to be a sponsor or volunteer to help with the parade or participate is asked to contact Patricia Riggs at 252-814-3747 or Shirley Mewborn at 252524-0345 or at Grifton Public Library, 568 Queen St., or email fairwaydrive2022@yahoo.com. Tickets for a 50/50 parade raffle also are available library and from any parade committee member. The drawing will be held at the end of the parade and the winner will be announced at that time. Participants do not have to be present to win. Ask about a golf cart brigade in conjunction with the parade on Dec. 3.

Greenville Parade

The Greenville Jaycees Christmas Parade will begin at 5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3. This year’s theme will be "A Frozen Christmas.” Visit www.greenville-jaycees.com/ christmasparade.

Festival of Lights

Martin-Pitt Partnership for Children will host its second annual Festival of Lights from 5-8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 5, and Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 111 Eastbrook Drive. The walk-through event will take participants through the magical town of Whoville, where they can take photos and enjoy seasonal treats in this winter wonderland. Visit mppfc.org or facebook. com/mppfc.

Victorian Christmas

The Farmville Community Arts Council will present “A Victorian Christmas” at 7 p.m. Dec. 8-10 at the historic Paramount Theatre, 3723 N. Main St. An additional matinee performance will be held at 3 p.m. Dec. 11. The interactive holiday show features a family from the Victorian period hosting a Christmas celebration to which the audience has been invited. The comedy event will feature songs and games. Tickets are $20 for reserved seating and $25 for premium seating, with a discount for arts council members. Visit farmville-arts.org or facebook.com/FarmvilleArts.

Christmas Concert

NewSong’s Very Merry Christmas Tour will make a stop at Ignite Church, 4150 Bayswater Drive, Winterville, at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 8. The concert also will include Christian recording artist Francesca Battistelli. General admission tickets are $22. Visit www.itickets.com/events/470192.

Farmville Christmas Parade

The town’s annual Christmas parade will be begin at 10:30 a.m. Dec. 10. Parade applications can be found at farmvillenc. gov.

‘Nutcracker’

Dance Arts Theatre will present “The Nutcracker” ballet at 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 10 and 2 p.m. Dec. 11 in ECU’s Wright Auditorium. The ballet is accompanied by the Eastern Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are $40 for the general public and $34 for youth. Call 328-4788 or visit tickets.ecu.edu. Sales at the door begin 45 minutes prior to the performance.

Youth Concert

Greenville Choral Society Youth and Children’s Holiday Concert will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11, at The Memorial Baptist Church, 1510 S.E. Greenville Blvd. Admission is free. Guests are asked to bring a stuffed animal for TEDI Bear Advocacy Center. Visit greenvillechoralsociety. com.

Grimesland Parade

Grimesland’s Hometown Christmas Parade will be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 17. The parade can be viewed along Pitt Street.

Winterville Christmas

The Winterville Christmas Parade will be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 10. A holiday market will be held from 2-6 p.m. at 252 Main St. It will include craft vendors, food trucks, inflatables and entertainment. The annual tree lighting ceremony will begin at 5 p.m. The event will feature performances from area schools and organizations, reading of “The Night Before Christmas” and lighting of the town Christmas tree.  Call 252756-1487 or visit wintervillenc.com.

Jolly Jamboree

Pitt County WIC will host its first Jolly Jamboree event from 1–7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15, at 403 Government Circle. This free event will feature games, crafts, food samples, outdoor activities and information about various programs and resources for Pitt County families.

Santa’s Workshop

Greenville Recreation and Parks Department will host Santa’s Workshop from 5-6:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, at River Park North, 1000 Mumford Road. The event will include children’s activities, hot chocolate, marshmallows over the campfire, and a meet and greet with Santa. Cost is $10 per child for city residents and $12 for others. Call (252) 3294560 or email bwilliams@greenvillenc.gov to register.

Choral Society

Greenville Choral Society’s concert choir will present A Festive Holiday Concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 17, at The Memorial Baptist Church, 1510 S.E. Greenville Blvd. Admission is free. Guests are asked to bring a stuffed animal for TEDI Bear Advocacy Center. A second performance will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 18, at First Baptist Church, 113 N. Harvey St., Washington, N.C. Visit greenvillechoralsociety. com.