Old People’s Christmas 2016
Old People’s Christmas 2016
Photo by Samantha Lyles
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Volunteers packed the Darlington High School gym on Saturday, December 10, packing groceries and household goods into hundreds of brown paper grocery bags, readying donation deliveries for the 37th Annual Old People’s Christmas food drive.
Though much of the activity takes place on delivery day, the Old People’s Christmas takes several weeks to organize, with volunteers gathering donations from local businesses and private citizens, determining recipients, and recruiting volunteers from the community and the DHS student body. This year’s volunteer crew included much of the Falcon soccer and basketball teams, along with folks from local churches and Girl Scout troops.
Each year, the Old People’s Christmas pulls in around $5,000 in donations and serves more than 100 elderly households in the Darlington area. Many of the elderly people helped by the Old People’s Christmas drive are housebound, on very limited fixed incomes, and when the weather turns cold they have to choose between heat, medicine, and food.
Sponsors and donations are needed to keep this giving tradition going. Checks should be made payable to Darlington High School (with a memo notation for the Old People’s Christmas Fund), and cash donations should be made directly to the high school. Anyone interested in helping can contact Debra Wallace at 843-398-2796 or Ginger Hendricks at 843-398-2724 for more information.