OBI
Partners Spread Christmas Cheer to 13,000 Families in Hampton Roads
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - "78!" shouts the marine. A volunteer
standing beside the marine relays the number into his walkie-talkie. About 20 feet away,
the shouts are heard again. "78!" repeats the guy on the other end of the walkie-talkie.
A volunteer standing behind the red and white striped curtain takes off down the aisles
of brown boxes stacked four and five high with a single mission: find box no. 78.
 Volunteers
from the USMC Reserves stock the shelves for an estimated 7,500 families.
 An
OBI volunteer adds the 'finishing touch' to a family's Angel Tree box.
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Meanwhile, no. 78, Sabrina, is making her way down the aisle of toys. She has a marine
escort by her side who is volunteering to help her shop for her two children, ages
six and four.
"I can't stop smiling," she says.
After choosing four toys for each of her children, Sabrina and her escort make a
pit-stop half-way down the aisle at the "Angel Tree" station. Box no. 78 has been
found and is carefully loaded onto her shopping cart. It has been pre-filled with
clothes and gifts handpicked for her children based on their gender and age.
They turn the corner and reach the check-out station where another crew of marines
begins to pack her gifts into boxes.
"This has been a blast," said Sabrina with a laugh. A group of marines huddle around
her for a quick photo and then send her off with a 'Merry Christmas.' But not before
she is handed an Operation Blessing box filled with stuffing, pudding, rice, canned
potatoes, yams, green beans, gravy and more. Sabrina exits the building with a full
shopping cart and is handed one final item to complete her Christmas shopping: a four
pound whole chicken.
Sabrina is just one of 7,500 families in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake and Norfolk,
who is receiving free gifts and food thanks to The Salvation Army (TSA) and it’s
many partners including – Operation Blessing, United States Marine Corps Toys
for Tots and The Virginian-Pilot Joy Fund.
She, like many of the families arriving at The Salvation Army Christmas Depot over
the course of the week, is here because of a need. Sabrina's family relocated to Virginia
Beach for her husband's job. But it wasn't until after they moved and signed a two-year
lease on a home that they were told the bad news.
"We left everything, sold our house and came here," she said. "That's when we found
out the job fell through." It was an unexpected turn of events that now had them scrambling
to make ends meet, not to mention having Christmas for their family.
"You can do without Christmas, I can do without Christmas, but try and tell that
to your four and six-year-old," she said. "You just can't."
Operation Precision
It runs like a well-oiled machine. Perhaps that's because The Salvation Army begins
planning their annual Christmas outreach starting around Easter of each year. "It's
Christmas all year round," said Grace Ramos, Public Relations Director for The Salvation
Army.
Participants who file an application with TSA are sent a postcard with an
assigned appointment time to come and shop for their gifts. They are families that
meet the criteria for assistance based on government standards for low-income or because
they are facing unexpected emergencies. Some are unemployed, some have lost their
homes to fires, and some are evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. All are welcomed by The
Salvation Army.
"We rarely turn anyone away," said Ramos. In fact, The Salvation Army anticipates
the unexpected by allotting the last few days of the depot specifically for families
in crisis.
From start to finish, a visit to the depot is handled with military precision. When
parents arrive, they are escorted to a seating area and given a brief orientation
regarding the process. Then they file through to have their postcard verified with
a picture ID by TSA staff members. Next, it’s on to another seating area where
they wait for their number to be called.
Finally, their number is called and they are greeted by a smiling volunteer and an
empty shopping cart – ready to be filled with gifts for their children. But
the first gift is not for their children, it's for the parent.
"We always want to make sure we give the parents something too." said Ramos.
To keep everything running on schedule, The Salvation Army runs approximately 45
families down the shopping aisle every 15 minutes and requires a minimum of 200 volunteers
a day.
A Partnership of Blessing
This Christmas, TSA will help approximately 13,000 families in Hampton Roads - or
36,000 children. And as Ramos readily admits, it is their partnerships that make it
all possible.
For the past three years, Operation Blessing has donated boxes of food to TSA as
part of their "12 Days of Christmas," a yearly outreach that assists 12 different
organizations or groups ranging from teens in crisis, to those with developmental
disabilities, to low-income families.
This year, OBI donated 13,000 food baskets to TSA filled with canned vegetables,
pudding, rice, stuffing, gravy and more. The total value of goods was nearly $135,000.
"What would we do without Operation Blessing and our partnerships?" asked Ramos. "With
OBI, it's the only way it comes together," she added.
That sentiment is echoed in the response of the many parents receiving toys and food.
"Thank you," said Angelica. The mother of eight continued, "This is such a great
blessing."
How You Can Help
Take part in Operation Blessing's outreach programs by making an online
donation to help those in need.
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