In spite of changes encompassing organizations due to the current pandemic, about 650 local residents were adopted for this year’s Gifts of Love hosted by Lamar County Human Resource Council.
“Gifts of Love has always had an immense amount of community support. The program is close to a lot of people’s hearts,” LCHRC Executive Director Shelly Braziel said.
“Since this program solely relies on local support, I was concerned with COVID we might struggle to get everyone adopted. We know small businesses especially are struggling in this pandemic. They are the lifeblood of our community, and without them, this program and many others like it would not be possible.”
Braziel said the organization received more funds than needed, and “it really shows how important this program is to so many in our community, and I can’t express how much I appreciate that.”
As the organization was unable to utilize volunteers during this year’s program and limited contact, they gave them gift cards from stores like Walmart, Walgreens, Amazon, etc.
“We got some feedback from clients back in October when we did sign-ups, and heard from several that said they liked this idea better,” Braziel said. “All the gift cards were $15 so everyone got the same thing.”
She said several businesses around Lamar County contributed to this year’s Gift of Love success.
“Load Trail made two significant donations,” she said. “One was for Gifts of Love and another for Gifts of Love’s sister program, ‘Horizon House Christmas.’”
“Servpro also went above and beyond,” she continued. “Last week, they went and adopted all of the cards South Main Iron had left — I believe it was 60 cards.”
Also, I’d like to thank Paris Coffee Co. and South Main Iron who were our Gifts of Love sponsors and adoption sites this year,” Braziel said. “But, honestly, so many businesses participated this year, the support was truly heartwarming.”
Gifts of Love in Paris are expected to be delivered Friday.
–
Like and follow MyParisTexas.com on Facebook.
