G I V IN G B ACK
No one has ever become poor by giving- Anne Frank
HELPING SPREAD CHRISTMAS CHEER TO LOCAL KIDS & FAMILIES IN NEED
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an you imagine a child not having a gift to open for Christmas? All across Montgomery County, children are preparing their wish lists and parents are busy trying to locate all the latest items that their child desires. None of us wants a child to go without a gift during the holidays, but this year in particular means that families might need assistance to make their child’s wishes come true.. Every year, Urban Ministries works diligently to help families who need assistance in providing their children with gifts for a special Christmas. Their traditional Christmas store held at Madison Street United Methodist Church had to be reimagined to provide for members of our community in a way that allowed for increased safety and health protocols, like so many things this year. It is through this need that “Christmas For Kids”, to be held on December 12, 2020 was created. Deborah Ashcraft is a familiar face for many members of our community. As Grace Assistance Program Manager at Urban Ministries, she has worked tirelessly to implement the Food Distribution program. This ministry has
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increased in size since it began in March, with the November distribution day seeing 797 food boxes being given to Montgomery County families. Deborah was also heavily involved in the recent “Turkeys for Troops” event, where military families were given turkeys for Thanksgiving completely without cost. When it became apparent that the format used for the Christmas store concept would not work this year, Debbie went to work. She spent hours researching and collaborating with the “Last Minute Toy Store” in Nashville to come up with ideas to transform this community outreach program into a COVID safe event. Debbie says that her motivation is that she cannot bear the thought of any child not having a gift to open on Christmas. It is this motivation that drives her and countless volunteers who have worked to make this event a reality. The first hurdle that had to be crossed was to figure out and secure a location that would be able to handle the number of people needed to pull off such an event. Montgomery County Mayor Jim Durrett graciously offered the use of the Wilma Rudolph event center, which will allow families to pick up the gifts in a completely contactless manner. The second hurdle was to determine how families would choose gifts, since the store concept used in the past could not be used. This is where CMCSS school counselors and Montgomery County social service agencies stepped in. Through their existing relationships Clarksville Living
By Paige Eisemann
with families, wishlists for each child who will be receiving gifts this year have been distributed. These professionals are in the unique position of being able to reach out to the families that they know can benefit from this program, to ensure that the children can receive the gifts that they would like. The third hurdle was the procurement of the actual gifts. In the past, the congregation of Madison Street United Methodist Church has provided the lion’s share of gifts for this program. Last year, church families were assigned specific
"Debbie says her motivation is that she cannot bear the thought of any child not having a gift to open on Christmas." age groups for gifts to bring in based on the beginning letter of their last name. This year, church families participated in a special offering to provide for the purchase of the items on the wish lists. The Outreach ministries of MSUMC also set aside funds for this purpose. Urban Ministries also accepted some toys and gift items, as well as monetary donations, from various
