Vilonia organizations receive funds

Conway, Arkansas, TheCabin.net
http://www.thecabin.net/stories/121408/loc_1214080010.shtml

All Santa Clauses don't have to wear red outfits, sport long white beards and holler "Ho, ho, ho," to be the real deal.

But all seem to have one thing in common they are trying to do something good for children. At least the ones working in the Vilonia area.

Friday, members of the Vilonia Kiwanis Club including President Johnny Reed, Jill Bonnema and Jackie Fowlkes presented checks to representatives of the Vilonia Angel's Network and Make A Child Smile to help with providing Christmas for needy children. A new Kiwanis club, Reed said, he wished it could have been more.

"Maybe next year," he added. "We are all about children."

LaRhonda Roberts of Vilonia Angel's Network said the $200 will help that organization meet the growing demand this year of providing Christmas to more than 100 families. Roberts is a counselor at the Vilonia Middle School and has been working alongside a group of volunteers for the past 15 years or so to fill a number of needs for area families from providing shoes to coats to food and toys.

"There are a lot of us here that help with this," Roberts said, modestly speaking. On that note, she also complimented the Make A Child Smile program.

"They took some of our kids," she said.

She turns to many each year for a helping hand, she said. Vann's Restaurant in Vilonia held a spaghetti supper recently providing the organization with close to $1,000.

And, at the school, more than 4,000 cans of food have been collected this year by children and will be distributed to the families. Last year, one family had a need for a stove. A good Samaritan stepped forward and provided that need. This year, Roberts said, there's a family in dire need of another appliance and she's looking for another Samaritan Santa.

"I'm looking for a dryer right now for one family," Roberts added. "The family has one income. They really need this."

Roberts has seen a difference this year than she has seen in past years.

"We are hearing more and more that no one in the family has a job," she added.

Tracy Stocks of Make a Child Smile said the $200 check would also help that organization provide eight to 10 kids with Christmas.

"Or, provide 15 kids with coats," she pondered. "We've given out every coat that we have. We have given more than 150 coats out this year and we are getting emails every day with more needs."

With less than two weeks to Christmas, Stocks said Make a Child Smile still has several stockings to fill.
"We are still short items for teenagers," she said. "We are working on boxes for 120."

She worries about some families falling through the cracks and some children ending up on Christmas morning with empty stockings. She can't stand to think about that scenario--children with tears running down their cheeks as well as those going hungry.

She knows of two families who probably would have been in that boat if someone hadn't anonymously turned their names in to the organization. The two families are connected with 16 children between them, both paying funeral expenses with unexpected losses of income.

"They didn't ask for help," she said. "We discovered the need. It was turned into us. The kids had told the parents they had rather not have anything than let anyone know they were in need."

The names of those two families along with all the others will be kept in strict confidence. Stocks only interest is that the families will have food and the children will have presents on Christmas morning.

Summing up the help that she has received thus far, Stocks said, "The community amazes me. People are good to step forward."

And, she said, it's a good thing. More than 600 children will be helped due to the generosity of others.
"We are seeing so many middle class on the list," she surmised. "It's been a tough year economically for everyone."

Stocks offers words of encouragement for anyone with thoughts of helping.

"You don't know when it could be you needing the help," she said. One of the officers of the Make A Child Smile needed help. She's now in a good paying job and paying other's generosity forward.