Christmas in April 2010
Hartsville’s first Christmas in April was in 1989, and since that time more than 13,000 volunteers have refurbished 580 homes and a nonprofit day care.
The residents of the selected homes are unable to maintain repair and upkeep on their homes due to limitations of their advanced age, health and finances. They have gone on to maintain their renovations and give thanks to the generosity of their neighbors for lending a hand. The criteria was that the home had needs that prohibited the owner from living “warm, safe and dry,“ and the home had not been worked on in the previous five years, with special consideration to those that had a pending need that necessitated another work day.
The Hartsville Christmas in April Board of Directors has selected 22 homes to be worked on last year by 23 Hartsville churches and organizations who signed up to renovate homes of low income, elderly families living in owner occupied homes in the Hartsville area.
This year applications will be given out at Heritage Community Bank on January 6th, and must be returned by February 16.
The mission first began in Midland, Texas, in 1973 by an oil scout named Bobby Trimble and a group of his friends who saw a need in their community to renovate homes of the needy in a group effort, a “barn-raising” idea that caught on. There is a national headquarters in Washington, D.C., and now volunteers in over 240 towns in all 50 states in America participate in this worthy event. The group is now known as “Rebuilding America.”
But Hartsville’s group is partial to the name “Christmas in April,“ since so many churches are involved, and the name has been “grandfathered” to allow the name to remain the same.
This charity is near and dear to my heart for several reasons.
When we first moved to Hartsville, this was the first volunteer effort that I participated in with my children, who were very small at the time. They were not able to very much but help paint a back set of steps, but they were so proud to have helped the elderly woman of the home we worked on and were so proud that we made her house safe.
Years later, I was asked to join the board of directors and could not have been more proud. Some of the men and women that are members of that board have been with the organization the entire 21 years, and certainly many of the volunteers are.
This is a mission that is entirely dependent upon the generosity of the community. The more money received- more homes may be worked on. The more teams we have to work on houses- more projects may be assigned.
If you can search within your budget to give to this mission, we certainly appreciate your generosity. If you have a group from your church, where you work, your neighborhood, your friends, please mark April 17th on your calendar as your day to work.
Contributions may be sent to:
Christmas in April
Post Office Box 578
Hartsville, SC 29551
Any contributions for Christmas in April 2010postmarked ON OR BEFORE December 31, 2009 will have a letter sent to them for tax purposes.
(Any contributions that were received this year have thank you letters that were sent out this week.)
Any inquiries or pre-registration for teams may be sent to: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
oops
the email listed there is misspelled:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
((how did I spell Hartsville wrong? I must type it at least 100 times a day???))