Operation Christmas?

In July 2019, McClain County Operation Christmas had kicked off their Christmas in July campaign.

Flash forward one year and even Christmas in December is looking a little iffy.

“I’m not sure what to do,” said Peggy Christian. “Everything is just on hold. So much is up in the air.”

Christian said the annual charitable drive furnishes food baskets to qualifying families.

Each basket contains between $50 and $60 worth of groceries for a holiday meal.

And most of those groceries are provided through food drives at area schools.

So if students are back in school, there will be food drives. And if COVID-19 forces schools to close their doors, there won’t.

A similar situation exists in the toy department.

The toy drives for Operation Christmas fall to the churches.

Yet so many churches have yet to return to pre-COVID-19 services.

Christian acknowledged that Operation Christmas might be able to “do something for the kids” and purchase toys.

But the average age of volunteer elves is 72 and so far none have shown willingness to hit the stores looking for bargains.

Instead they are staying home and avoiding crowds.

Christian is hopeful that the picture may change by September.

Time will tell.