OH, THE JOY OF GIVING!
The Stocking Drive:
The stockings were filled and hung by the . . . . 233 Full Stockings were given to ARISE to be distributed in the Little Mexico area of Alamo this year! ARISE is a program based in the community
that works with low income immigrant families to help them to create the future
they want and to give them opportunities to become contributing members of
society.
All the members of the Good Samaritan families were also given a stocking. Barb DeGaramo, the Stocking Drive Coordinator, also gave a smaller stocking to all 24 of the grade school Folk Dancers that couldn't entertain us because of illness. What a wonderful project!!
 |
Lots of Stockings to Stuff
|
 |
Approximately 200 Stocking Caps, Head Bands
and Scarves were Knitted or Crocheted By Our
Knitters and Crocheters for this project! |
 |
| Stuffed Animals |
 |
| Our Winter Ranch Stocking Stuffers |
|
 |
| All Items Have Been Sorted |
 |
| Books |
 |
| Small Toys |
 |
| Hair Accessories |
 |
| Toothpaste and Tooth Brushes |
 |
| Lotions, Soaps and Shampoos |
 |
| Colors, Coloring Books & Notebooks |
 |
| More Books |
 |
| Ramen Noodles |
 |
| Starting to Stuff the Stockings |
 |
| Winter Ranch Assembly Line |
 |
| Women at Work |
 |
| Santa's Helpers |
 |
| What a haul - Oh what a joy to be giving! |
The Angel Tree:
We provided Christmas gifts to many children in the ARISE neighborhood "Little Mexico". We brought our gifts in and put them on the stage to be delivered on the 19th of December. The Coordinators for the Angel Tree were Diana Mollerus and Patty Ellison. We didn't get a count, but the stage looked like we did a great job of helping some families out!
 |
| The Gifts Started Arriving For The Angel Tree Project |
 |
| Looks like we made a lot of children happy this year! |
The Good Samaritan Project:
Through your generous donations, ARISE was given $300 for Christmas meals for the families in their area.
Then we provided Christmas for two families:
- The Rodriguez Family (Angel & Bertha) and their four children (Angel age 12;
Abraham, Age 5; Hiromy, Age 8; and Nazly, 1½ months).
- The
Moreno Family (Maria, a single Mother) and her four children (Eloy, Age 13;
Sergio, Age 12; Mario, Age 10 and Edna, Age 6.
Each family member was given $50 in Christmas gifts and each of the 7 children received a bicycle. One of the little boys exclaimed that "This is the best Christmas ever!"
 |
Darrell Luster, Mark Williams, and Roger Howard
Starting To Unpack Gifts |
 |
The Moreno children excited about their bikes
Ray Tester, Patty Cuellar, Chuck Cullett, Betty Sloan and Betty Luster |
|
Ray and Sandy Tester (Coordinators for the Good Samaritan Project) and many of our Winter Ranch people helped to deliver the gifts. Patti Cuellar helped to interpret for the group!
 |
| The Moreno Family |
 |
| Sandy Tester holding the Rodriguez baby |
 |
| One Happy Little Boy! |
 |
| Doesn't she look proud!! |
 |
Rodriguez Family with Stockings
from our Stocking Drive |
 |
| The Rodriguez family |
The Quilters For The Needy also made a quilt for each member of the Moreno and Rodriguez families! The Quilters For The Needy also made a quilt for a homeless man who was living in his car this Christmas. They are busy all year making quilts for the newborns in the hospital and also for the Easter Seals organization. The Easter Seal organization runs a Day Care and each child received a quilt. They also do some home health and when they visit a child who is in need of something to keep them warm at night, they use quilts made by our Winter Ranch quilters!
I'd say our park spread a lot of love and happiness around this Christmas season!! And not only did we distribute a lot of gifts, we also helped the Salvation Army raise money by ringing bells this year at the Walgreens in Alamo! Karen Hockemeir was the Coordinator for this very worthwhile project.
God Bless Everyone!
Mary Benfield
Blog Administrator
