By Betty Gandee

With the hustle and bustle of the holiday season it’s sometimes hard to slow down and remember what Christmas is all about.

A few groups in our area have been busy helping show their giving spirit. The Lizemore Fire Department hosted a toy drive, and they are happy to announce that with the community’s help, provided a special Christmas to 61 children this year. They treated the little ones to an evening with Santa where they could enjoy cookies, candy canes, coloring books, and face paint.

The Clay County Mud Runners and Total Comfort Heating and Cooling had a busy holiday season as well when they came together to host the first annual coat drive for the community.  The Clay County Lion’s Club was filled with coats, gloves, hats, and winter wear donated by many to be given out to anyone needing these items.  They are proud to say they gave away over 500 of these items in December.

Clay County High School’s Health and Occupations Students of America, HOSA, made a trip to CAMC Women and Children’s hospital to deliver stuffed hedgehogs to children hospitalized during this Christmas season.  This group of young people worked hard to get 35 stuffed hedgehogs donated to be distributed.  Hannah Elliot says that she realized, while delivering these gifts, that you can’t take anything for granted and it brought tears to her eyes seeing their faces light up just receiving the simplest of things. Seeing sick ones not get to enjoy Christmas at home made this group realize it’s all about the little things and they truly enjoyed putting a smile on their faces.