I wish we could keep the spirit of Christmas all year round

If we could harness the spirit of giving year round that exists at Christmas time, then there is no telling what we could accomplish. I’m not just talking about the spirit of giving from those, who donate to a worthy cause and those that volunteer to help make it happen. I’m also talking about the children getting help too.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

Saturday morning, I went out to Immanuel Baptist Church where volunteers had stayed up all night wrapping Christmas presents for the Southeast Kentucky Empty Stocking Fund Christmas party.

Over 600 children received a wrapped Christmas present, a new pair of shoes, new socks, books and a blanket among other items. Children ages six, seven and eight years old also received a free bicycle.

It took nearly as many volunteers as there were children to make the event happen.

Last Tuesday evening, Trevor Sherman joined the Corbin Police Department for its Shop with a Cop program at the Corbin Walmart where over 130 children got to go on Christmas shopping sprees.

Last Thursday morning, I joined the folks over at Forcht Bank in Barbourville, who helped with the Knox County Sheriff’s Department Shop with a Cop program, which took 14 children on $100 shopping sprees.

Afterwards, the children, some of their family members, and most of the sheriff’s department were treated to a free lunch at Forcht Bank, which included a visit from Santa Claus. Each child also received a gift bag loaded with items from Forcht Group, and a new bicycle courtesy of Forcht Bank.

Last Thursday evening, Timothy Wyatt got to go take pictures of the Williamsburg Police Department Shop with a Cop program at the Williamsburg Walmart where nearly 180 children got to go on $100 shopping sprees.

Shop with a Cop is one of my favorite events to cover each year, and not just for the smiles on these kid’s faces as they are getting toys and presents.

One of the surprising constants that you see over and over again at each of these Shop with a Cop events is that many of these children, who don’t have a lot monetarily speaking, want to buy presents first for their siblings before they do so for themselves.

They are pleasantly surprised to learn that their siblings will have their own money to spend and that this is just for them. If we all took note of these examples, the world would be a better place.

Kudos to everyone, who helped make these events and several other events across the Tri-County area possible, and to many of our local children, who truly understand the spirit of giving.

Now for a few other things before I conclude this column.

• Let me brag a minute about a couple of News Journal employees, who pitched in to help with some of these events. Timothy Wyatt helped pick up presents across the area Thursday afternoon for the Toys for Tots program, and delivered them to the program’s warehouse in Emlyn.

On Friday, Trevor Sherman and his son, Connor Sherman, helped pick-up presents for the Empty Stocking Fund and then they helped with the wrapping.

• Last week we ran a story talking about how the Whitley County Clerk’s office wouldn’t be able to process vehicle or boat registrations or transfers for a couple of weeks after Dec. 28 due to the state of Kentucky switching over to a new database system. You also won’t be able to get a new license plate issued or a disabled parking permit during this time period.

The portion of the clerk’s office, which does these things, will reopen for business on Thursday, Jan. 11.

Between Dec. 28 and Jan. 11, the clerk’s office will still be open for things like getting a marriage license and recording deeds, mortgages, notary renewals, voter registration and candidate filings among other things.

In other words, if you need to renew your vehicle registration or transfer a car title, then you need to get down to the clerk’s office sooner or you will be waiting until a good bit later to make this happen.