Chris Dollarhite is on a mission to ensure that children and families in Western North Carolina affected by Hurricane Helene experience the joy of the holiday season. Through the Mountain Christmas project, he’s working to provide toys, clothing, and a sense of hope to those still recovering from the devastating
Dollarhite, a member of the Patrick County Patriots, often assists with local events and nonprofit initiatives. While many members of his group have been traveling to North Carolina to volunteer directly, his work commitments prevented him from joining.
“A lot of them have been volunteering and going to Western North Carolina. Some of them a week at the time, some of them a weekend. I work a lot, so I couldn’t get freed up to go volunteer like I wanted to go out with a group,” he said.
While he was giving donations and helping others, Dollarhite said he felt like he needed to do something else and started thinking about the future, particularly about Thanksgiving and Christmas.
“When I thought about Christmas – I’m a parent and I thought about the kids. As adults we have choices we can go and do things, but children are innocent they don’t have any choice where they’re stuck, where they’re at,” he said.
While volunteering, Dollarhite said some Patrick County Patriots members were in Asheville and connected with Gashes Creek Baptist Church.
“They were out there that week, so I called one of my friends in the group and he talked to the pastor. This (project) was what came up from it. We decided” to also provide clothing, in addition to toys “because so many of them are still short on the necessities that they need just in their day-to-day life, you know coats, clothes, a house, a lot of the basics,” he said.
Two weeks ago, the church set up a sign-up sheet for families in need. In just four days, 195 children, ranging from 1 to 17 years old, were registered to receive assistance.
Donations Needed
The project is seeking donations of new clothing, including shirts, pants, socks, underwear, coats, and shoes in any child’s size/age range, from 1-17. Non-battery-powered toys valued between $20 and $25 are also requested to ensure no child feels left out.
“They were pretty adamant about staying $20-$25 a toy. They don’t want any child to feel” bad “if one walks out with a bike and one walks out with a G.I. Joe action figure. So, they were pretty adamant, they were very specific in wanting to make sure everybody was treated as fairly and evenly as they could. They’re doing everything they can,” he said.
Dollarhite said individual, unwrapped donations can be dropped off at A Little Bit of Everything, located at 25688 Jeb Stuart Highway, Stuart.
Monetary donations will be used to purchase clothing and toys, and can be made out to Chris Dollarhite or Caroline Jones, and mailed to 4049 South Mayo Drive, Stuart, VA 27171.
Deadline and Delivery
With gifts needing to be wrapped and delivered approximately two weeks before Christmas, the project has set a hard deadline of Dec. 5 for all donations.
Gifts will be transported to the church to be wrapped by volunteers. Deliveries will be made about two weeks before Christmas.
Partners in the project include United Felts of Martinsville, Ararat Ruritan Club, Woolwine Ruritan Club, Patrick County Patriots, and A Little Bit of Everything.
For large group donations, pickup arrangements, or additional questions, call Dollarhite at (434) 549-3397.
