Lots of gratitude for outpouring of community generosity

In Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” the narrator says of Scrooge (after he’s been visited by the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come), “And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us!”

Well, I think it may truly be said of the Charlotte community that they know how to keep Christmas well. If indeed, love and generosity are at the heart of what keeping Christmas well is all about.

Yes, this holiday season, Charlotte Food Shelf and Assistance is so very, very grateful for the community, whose gifts of time, money, goodies, food and toys has helped support 28 families and 22 children. 

We have a lot of thank you’s to voice, so here goes:

First, we want to start off by thanking the many organizations and individuals who made the holidays special for the 22 children in our Food Shelf families, including WowToyz of Vergennes, which graciously and generously donated toys, thoughtfully selected for the specific group of children from our client families; and the Flying Pig Bookstore of Shelburne, which kindly included the Charlotte Food Shelf in its Snowflake Book Program this year, generously providing each child with an age-appropriate book to enjoy over the holidays and beyond. 

A big thank you as well to the generous congregants at Charlotte Congregational Church and Our Lady of Mount Carmel who participated in the Giving Tree Program, where individual congregants took the opportunity to select and grant the holiday wish for a specific individual child from our Food Shelf families. A special thank you, too, to Christy Gallese and Kelly Stockwell, who coordinated the Giving Trees this year. 

Thank you to Evan Metropoulos for his long-standing commitment as Secret Santa, providing a special surprise each year for each and every child. His generosity and creativity are deeply appreciated.

Wait! There’s more!

Big, big thanks to all the additional members of our community who played a part in making this a special holiday for the children. Their contributions came in the form of time, toys and gift cards. Thank you, Number One Toy Elf Laura Iglehart, and Jon Davis, Wolfie Davis, Amelia Davis, Jody Tritt, Amanda Herzberger, Amy Rohrbaugh, Stephanie Wells, Sage Bagnato, Deenie Galipeau, Casey Johnson, Caroline Perry, Molly Paskin and Nina Hill. You did so much to make this Christmas special for the children.  

Thank you, Holly Rochefort, for organizing community baked goods. Thank you, Red Onion, for the generous donation of baked goods, and thank you, Carol Clay, for organizing this.

There’s more! It’s like a Christmas stocking with no bottom!

Thank you to the Krolicks, who donated a holiday basket of goodies. Thank you, Susan Blood, for donating holiday candles. Thank you to the Gatos family for cooking baskets. And thank you to the anonymous holiday elf who donated cheddar cheese, a great addition to any feast or snack.

Thank you to the Hands organization for its donation of Hannaford gift cards for all our seniors, beautifully illustrating that the spirit of Christmas is not only for the very young.

And — we are almost done, but not quite — a heartfelt thank you to the many who donated funds to help keep the food shelf alive and well and thriving: John and Carolyn Kovac, Scott and Lynne Jaunich, Rex and Lell Forehand, Thomas Cosinuke and Anne Kelton, Kirk and Loretta Walters, Kathleen Posey, Lenore and Myron Sopher, Eleanor and Mark Capeless, John and Heather Dwight, Jan and Larry Sudbay, Rose Bernier, Kenneth French, Cecily Stokes-Prindle, Lynn Cluff, Jocelyn Schermerhorn, Joseph Keenan, Cynthia Burns, Chris Ritcey, Belinda Mucklow, Carol Talley, Kimberly Warren, Karina Warshaw, Gary Landrigan, Jeffrey Horbar, Rhonda Doonan, Laurel Lakey, Lisa Crispin, Patrice Machavern, Stan Wasilewski, Susan Raber Bray, Lee Krohn, Tiller, Karen Frost, Gordon Root, Susan Crockenberg, Dana Ward, Lorraine Koffman, John Henry Siedlecki, Martine Richards and Helen Toor.

We want to give another shout-out before we are through to Champlain Valley Union High School student volunteers, who have been so incredible helping out over the past weeks. And to Charlotte Central School teachers and students for all the non-perishables they collected for holiday distributions. And the Charlotte Children’s Center for their December food drive. You are all wonderful and we appreciate you.

Finally, and we really do mean finally, thanks to Laura Crandall for the many dozens of eggs donated, and for monetary donations thanks to Vermont Community Foundation, profits from John and Christy Hagios’ blackberry patch, Michael and Janet Yantachka, William Lockwood, Rocki-Lee Dewitt, Robert Carmody, Wolfger Schneider and Hannaford Hunger Bag Program.

And just before we wrap this up for ultimate final thanks, here is a list of people who sent in checks to the food shelf whose generosity means so much, Frances Foster, Jan L. Blomstrann, Carl and Carlanne Herzog, Kathetine Lampton, Julian Kulski, Stewart and Dorothy Read, Hugh and Leslie Lewis, Ted Montgomery, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Andrew and Erin Ross, Barry Finette and Sharon Mount, Thomas and Lorna Bates, Robert and Yolande Larson, Jessie Bradley, Susan Lavigne, Susan Smith, Richard Mintzer, Carleen Tufo, Kevin Pumiglia, Christopher and Susanne Davis, Paula and Peter Joslin, Aileen Kraus, Benjamin Haydock, Kathleen Nolan, Frank and Regina Berk, David Wheeler, and Robert and Toni Monsey. Many thanks to the Charlotte-Shelburne-Hinesburg Rotary for the donation that made possible the purchase of Christmas hams. Thank you to the following for additional donations: Joseph and Kathleen Carrara, Emily Laird, Jolene Kay, and Aaron and Cecily Wallman Stokes. And thank you to Alexandra Lehman, who made a large contribution from her handmade felt ornaments sold at the Old Brick Store.

I hope we haven’t missed anyone. There are so many to thank. For any we might have missed, we apologize, and we thank you. Please let us know if we missed you, and we will make sure to give you a shout-out in the next article.

In short: What a tremendous outpouring of generosity from our community. We cannot thank you enough. Our eggnog runneth over.

A happy, abundant, peaceful, joyful, blessing-filled New Year to all!