Santa’s little helpers came in the form of strapping Iola High School students Monday.
A cadre of six IHS FFA members and other volunteers helped distribute gifts for nearly 250 area youths as part of the Adopt-A-Child program.
The gifts were purchased by local donors in recent weeks for youngsters up to 18 years of age, “and a couple who won’t be born until just before Christmas,” Adopt-A-Child organizer Barbie Daugharthy said.
The gifts were distributed in an efficient, methodical manner, with the gifts assorted by numbers in three long lines in the First Baptist Church gymnasium.
Each recipient was given a number that corresponded with the batches of gifts, which then were retrieved by the FFA members.
The program’s culmination was a bit cheerier with the presentation of a $1,841 check by Iola Middle School. The proceeds were raised at a winter ball for the IMS seventh- and eighth-grade classes, a sixth-grade Christmas party and donations by middle school staff members.
Those proceeds will help replenish funds used by Adopt-A-Child organizers to purchase extra gifts, Daugharthy said.
“We’re still short of the funds we had at the end of last year,” she said.
Financial contributions can be made to Adopt-A-Child’s account set up at Emprise Bank.
Helpers aid Adopt-A-Child
