LAURINBURG — At least six dozen families in Scotland County will see some Christmas cheer in the form of new a bicycle this holiday season.
Less than a week before Christmas, volunteers with the Scotland County Church and Community Services could be seen unloading bikes from a transfer truck at the Laurinburg Methodist Church on South Main Street.
Again, the feat was made possible thanks to employees of Campbell’s and the philanthropic company’s collaboration each year with the Scotland County Church and Community Services.
Brandi Cross, Human Resources Generalist at Campbell’s, said the Maxton location held fundraisers throughout the year with each department raising funds to buy as many bikes as possible to donate to the Church and Community Services at Scotland and Robeson counties to distribute to those in need but first the company began the task of purchasing the bikes.
“It is a tradition that we try and purchase as many bikes as we can,” Cross said. “We round up and we hit all the Walmarts around town throughout the area in the different communities and we buy as many bikes as we can to give to as many children in need.”
Cross said that all together, team Maxton employees purchased 138 bikes and of that number, 65 went to the Scotland County location along with a pallet of soup donated.
“Every year the employees of Maxton enjoy giving so while we work we also have a purpose to give back to our community and we find love and support in donating to the children in our area,” Cross said.
The bikes will be distributed to families in Scotland through the local Church and Community Service’s Christmas Cheer program.
“This is extraordinary with so much gratitude in what they do to give back to the community,”
The Center’s Food Bank Coordinator Robin Monk said that there are so many families in need especially during the holidays which is the purpose behind the Christmas Cheer Program.
“This year when I got the call about the bikes we were over-excited,” Monk said. “With everything that’s going on in North Carolina right now with different areas, we weren’t sure how we were going to be impacted this year by Christmas Cheer so we are truly blessed to have received the abundance of bikes from Campbell’s Soup, their employees.”
In addition to the bikes, Monk highlighted that Zamir White, Los Vegas running back and former Scotland High School athlete, is also giving back to his community. White provided Christmas Cheer families with a gift certificate of up to $20 to assist in purchasing a protein for their holiday meal.
Monk thanked White for the generosity.
“This is his first time doing that but we really appreciate him standing out and remembering his community and those that are in need,” Monk said.
Christmas Cheer families are identified through the Scotland County Schools district.
“The counselors go through the process of selecting families that they feel are most deserving that are in need and from there the paperwork is brought to us,” Monk said.
Once the families are identified, community members get to “adopt” a family.
“We have people and businesses that will adopt families. People will adopt families anonymously and they’ll go buy presents for their family,” Monk said.
The Church and Community Services in Scotland also has funds donated for those who do not have time to go out shopping.
“We use those funds to purchase those gifts for children as well and then that’s where Campbell’s Soup bikes come in … We’re able to add a bike to all the children on there that we can,” Monk said.
Monk said that the local nonprofit was “overwhelmed” with the support for the Christmas Cheer program.
“Thank you is not enough,” Monk said.
Tomeka Sinclair can be reached at tsinclair@laurinburgexchange.com or 910-506-3169.