The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 1, 2004 Page: 2 of 20
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THURSDAY I JANUARY2004
THE CANADIAN RECORD
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INCORPORATED FEBRUARY 1998
BEN EZZELL
Editor & Publisher 1948-1993
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NANCY EZZELL Publisher
LAURIE EZZELL BROWN Editor
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For goodness' sake
MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS STORY of 2003 filtered down to me amid
the post-December 25 slush and muddle of leftover feasting and stripped
Christmas tree carcasses. It is a tale of conspiratorial good will among a
number of Canadian residents, all of whom were reluctant to divulge their
own involvement, making this a particularly difficult story to unravel.
It really began last year as a Christmas Family Assistance Program, a
harmonic convergence of various forces, among them Canadian's Ministe-
rial Alliance, Canadian ISD counselor Nancy White, the management and
employees of BR Canadian High School members of Students Against
Drank Driving (SADD) and their sponsors, Mimi Duncan and Mary Jo
Leonard, Sondra Hill, who served as community coordinator for the pro-
gram, Canadian Rotarians and the many good citizens of Canadian, Tbxas.
Through that program—which is now in its second year—over 100 needy
children and their families received gifts of clothing, bicycles and other toys,
and stockings filled with fruit and gift certificates for groceries.
Nancy White, who is counselor for three of Canadian's school campuses,
sent forms home with students which were used to identify families in need.
Through that process. White was able to identify about 70 children, their
clothing sizes and special wishes.
Working with the Ministerial Alliance and the community's churches,
Sondra Hill coordinated the list of names, connecting families in need with
individuals and churches and organizations who had expressed an interest in
making someone else's Christmas a more joyful one.
Fifty-seven BP employees agreed this year, as they had last year, that
they would forego a Christmas party, and instead, spend the money it would
have cost on Christmas gifts for many of those needy families. "We don't
need it," one employee told me, "and there's folks here that do." BP supplied
the money, and the employees were each given a family—their identity
known only to those coordinating the program—for whom they bought and
wrapped Christmas gifts. One employee, Doug Bessire, donned Santa's at-
tire and helped deliver the gifts, to the sheer delight—I was told—of many
children.
The members of SADD adopted 30 kids and decorated Alco's Angel Tree
with their wish lists. Customers purchased items on the lists, and the SADD
students wrapped and delivered the packages. "We tried to make SADD
more of a service organization," said Mimi Duncan. "Every child on our list
got a new outfit from head-to-toe, and one or two toys."
Local Rotary Club members gave new winter coats to thirteen children
on the list, as they have for several years now.
Four local businesses—ALCO, Lowe's Pay N' Save, Canadian Pharmacy
and the Peppermint Tree—provided the merchandise at their cost. Their
generosity made the money go that much further.
Many Canadian individuals and families contacted the program coordi-
nators, wishing to help sponsor a family There were so many calls this year
that Hill ran out of names on her list. "People just kept calling and asking if
there was anything they could do," she said. "We helped at least 100 children,
and there were more who did things on their own."
"Getting to help deliver those gifts touched my heart," she said. "We are
so blessed. Most of the homes we entered, there wasn't even a Christmas
tree. We just take for granted that everyone has Christmas, and it's not al-
ways the case."
One single mom who had earlier been identified as needing help even
contacted Hill a few days later to say that she had received a bonus at work.
"Help somebody else," she had called to say Hill was clearly quite moved by
the experience. "A lot of miraculous things happened," she said.
So this is my Christmas story—a week late, but with all the prerequisites
of a true Christmas story: the joyous giving and receiving of blessings far
greater than their earthly representations, with a miracle or two on the side.
Ttt
MEMBER
2003
TEXAS PRESS
ASSOCIATION
BETTER NEWSPAPER CONTEST
AWARD WINNER 2003
U
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Everareen 2
bp employees all wrapped up in giving
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Brown, Laurie Ezzell. The Canadian Record (Canadian, Tex.), Vol. 114, No. 1, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 1, 2004, newspaper, January 1, 2004; Canadian, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth220610/m1/2/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Hemphill County Library.