Thanks to Donors of Celebrate Christmas with a Hero

Thanks to the generosity of the citizens of Oconee County, especially residents in the City of Seneca, this year’s Celebrate Christmas with a Hero party was a huge success.  Sgt. Lisa Williams of the Seneca Police Department is one of the organizers and she is thanking everyone who played a part in providing needy kids of Oconee County with a Merry Christmas.  “It was great this year.  Now we always help between 150-175 children each year.  We don’t have that many that come to the party but there are always folks that show needing assistance.  We were able to send some things to Collins Children’s Home this year.  We even helped Seneca Residential and Lakeview Nursing Home as well as a small church, so our program is expanding.  We actually had 70 children this year for the party.  In years past, we had between 50-55, so we had a big group this year.  What was so awesome was we had a hero for every single child, plus we had some extra folks there too.”  Sgt. Williams gave special thanks to a few area businesses that gave generously this year to Celebrate Christmas with a Hero. “We had a great team of folks, our volunteers.  I just cannot say enough about the City of Seneca and how they support this initiative and our Board certainly appreciates everything that the City does for us.  This year was our biggest year for donations, so far and this is our fifth year.  Borg Warner partnered with us this year and to get into their Christmas Party, they had to bring anew unwrapped toy or clothing item, that was their ticket in.  That is one of our partners, of course Massey Investment Group, BB&T, Cakes by Shirley are also businesses that are so gracious to us.  Then all the other area businesses that help us with the golf tournament fundraiser through hole sponsorships, donations and things like that, we are just so appreciative, but our citizens this year really stepped it up.” Celebrate Christmas with a Hero is a non-profit, 501c3 organization with all donations tax deductible.  The organization pairs needy children of Oconee County with local police, Sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, EMS workers, DNR Rangers and members of the military.