"Operation Christmas Cheer" Delivers Gifts to 182 Darke County Kids

Have you heard of Operation Christmas "Cheer?" Odds are that if you hadn't yet, you would have soon. It's what began as a small effort of one family to "adopt" another for Christmas who was dealing with difficult situations and help them be able to provide gifts to their children. This effort's small scope has evolved into a massive testimony to our community's generosity, kindness, and selflessness.

According to the event organizer (who requested not to be identified in this post because they would like the focus to remain on their "elves" and those they have helped), this year the program has seen over 450 "elves" and many businesses coming to aid the cause and be able to help 182 Darke County Children have a happy Christmas.

They way it works is that a family in need makes a request of items needed for their children on the Operation Christmas "Cheer" Facebook Page. The list is then posted so that the "elves" (who are just anyone who happens to see the list on Facebook) can claim a child, purchase gifts for them, and then deliver them to a central location to be organized, wrapped, and ultimately delivered to the family. There's no "middle men" or difficult hoops to jump through, keeping the effort small and efficient. I asked the organizer to provide a rundown of how this incredible program started, and they provided the following:

Operation Christmas Cheer started from a personal Facebook post in 2011 wanting to help 1 family in need with their Christmas. My inbox was filled within a day with 6 people explaining why they were facing a hardship. I found it incredibly hard to decide which family we would help. On the original post, there were several friends who thought it was a wonderful gesture to help others. After receiving the heartbreaking messages, I posted again that I was going to need help meeting the needs because I couldn't say no to any of them, because each hardship was equally important.

My friends stepped up and met the challenge.

In year one, we helped 22 kids and had 41 volunteers, soon to be named "Elves". In 2012, we moved Operation Christmas Cheer to an event page and again requests were made for help and as the requests grew, so did the help. A few key critical elves stepped in to help and made the larger number doable. Tiffany Meckes, of Meckes and Associates, recognized the need for there to be a designated drop off location, as the task was now larger than I could handle myself. The help Tiffany has provided the project has made the biggest impact. Several bigger donations came in 2012, and our totals that year were 62 Darke County kids helped by 222 Elves.

2013 has been one year that will be remembered always. The Love has spread from an idea to a project that is helping 182 Darke County kids this year with over 450 Elves donating their time, gifts, and generosity.

This project has had so many interventions by people and businesses to make it now have a life of its own. My family, Tiffany Meckes, Jason Marion, Nick Good, The Coffee Pot, Paul Ackley, Greenville Federal Bank, Kelli Toy and the employees of Family Health Services, Amy Schoen, The Light Foundation, Avian World Rescue Kingdom, Double M Diner, and so many more individuals have given in such an instrumental way.

Mrs. Schoen of GHS has had her students involved in the project making stockings for the second year now. This year, Mr. Mikesell and Mrs. Shaffer stepped up to be involved in the wrapping process. Mrs. Delk of Woodland Primary is getting her kindergarten class involved by taking two children off the list.

Simply AWESOME! The call is always met with this project. If there's a need, it gets posted, it's taken care of. Kudos Elves!

I am blessed to see so much Love and Compassion for others in this Operation. I thank God for that!

There have been quite a few instances lately of our community showing just how incredibly selfless and generous it is. It's amazing that this event can happen with relatively little fanfare. What started as simply one family wanting to do a little for others at Christmas has turned into one of the largest beacons of good our community has. In the years I have ran DarkeJournal.com, I've posted more stories about the negative aspects of where we live than I care to remember. It's stories like these that let everyone know just how amazing the people are who we all call neighbors. I'm incredibly grateful to live in Darke County, where things like this go on as grassroots movements as simple, obvious ways we can all help one another.

How many kids do you think they will reach in 2014?