Generous groups make Christmas merrier for area’s needy families

DEXTER – Lots of needy children will receive toys and clothing this Christmas thanks to the generosity of several organizations in the region.

In Dexter, about 60 families will be helped by the Toys for Tots program spearheaded by Linda Clukey, the town’s human services director. Clukey said the program, funded mostly through donations from businesses, individuals and organizations, has been in operation for more than 20 years.

Infants to 18-year-olds enrolled in the program by their needy families all receive gifts, Clukey said. Volunteers help Clukey purchase the items, which are then given to the parents so they can wrap the gifts for their children. “This makes them feel a part of the gift-giving,” she said.

“I love this program, this is one of the better parts of my job,” Clukey said Friday. “It really gives you a good feeling.”

She recalled one Christmas when a parent had no transportation to pick up the gifts for her children. Clukey piled the gifts into her car and drove to the home.

When she arrived, the children were all peering from the window of the mobile home, she said. “They were just so excited,” Clukey remembered.

The Sunshine Club and the Dexter Sunrise Kiwanis Club also provide food baskets to families in need at Christmas, according to Clukey.

“If we didn’t have this program, there would be a lot of needy children or families who wouldn’t have a Christmas,” she said.

About 160 children in the Guilford area will receive presents purchased through the Guilford Area Kiwanis Club’s gift-giving program.

Carrie Fellows, chairman of the Christmas program, said the children represented about 60 families in Guilford, Sangerville, Parkman, Abbot, Cambridge and Wellington.

The program is so embraced in the Guilford area that the Kiwanis club had to fund gifts for only 50 children, Fellows said. The other children were “adopted” by local businesses, industries and schoolchildren who made sure the children had a merry Christmas.

For example, she said 40 children were adopted by Hardwood Products employees, 15 by Interface Fabrics, 10 by Pleasant Meadows Estate in Dover-Foxcroft, and 20 by local students.

“It’s amazing, it’s great to be able to help people,” Fellows said. “I feel bad for the people who feel awkward about receiving help, but as givers we get as much out of the program as the receivers,” she said.

Greenville and Rockwood families are receiving help from the Moosehead Lake Kiwanis Club. Diane Bartley, Kiwanis president, said about 25 families would receive a bag of toys and a food basket with a turkey or a ham. Food baskets also will be delivered to about 20 senior citizens.

Bartley said there was plenty of help offered this year. “People love to do it, they love to help out,” she said. “People are really generous.”