THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512020142
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS SPEIDELL, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 180 lines
ON A LONG-AGO Christmas Eve, Bill Ashley and his sister, Eva Marie, lay snuggled in their beds, with no hope that Santa would find his way to their Suffolk home.
It was 1935 - the middle of the Depression - and the Ashley family was struggling just to make ends meet.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the front door. The children crept to the top of the stairs to glimpse a shadowy someone handing packages into the house. After their parents had gone to sleep, the children stole down the steps to find presents under the tree. Christmas had been saved by a benefactor whose identity is unknown to Ashley.
Sixty years have passed, but the kindness of that night has never been lost on Ashley. Now 70, he has, in his own way, become the Santa Claus of Suffolk.
``When the opportunity came to give back, that Christmas Eve stayed with me,'' Ashley said. ``The Lord has blessed me so much, why not give back?''
For the last 31 years, Ashley has coordinated the local Toys for Tots project , which has brought Christmas toys to thousands of children who otherwise might have awakened to a bleak Christmas morning.
Ashley began chairing the program when it was a Jaycees project, in the 1950s. When the Jaycees were unable to continue the project, Ashley was already past the maximum Jaycee age but felt he could not bear to disappoint so many children.
He turned to his colleagues in the insurance business and gained support. Today, the program - under Ashley's coordination - is still sponsored by the Suffolk Association of Life Underwriters and supported by the Suffolk News-Herald's Cheer Fund.
Ashley's gift list has grown from 186 names when he began to well over 2,500 names of children from newborns to age 12, who will each receive two new toys and one gently used toy.
Suffolk's Santa insists on good quality toys and shops carefully for them with funds raised by local schools, churches and businesses as well as private contributors. The program also receives donations of new and almost-new toys from school-age children who learn to share with youngsters less fortunate than themselves.
With a truck and driver loaned to Ashley by the city, the toys are rounded up and stored in the former Montgomery Ward store, where they are sorted and packaged for distribution.
Ashley credits more than 100 helpers with making his monumental task manageable. ``You meet a lot of awfully nice people doing this,'' he said, adding modestly ``For me it is just a matter of coordinating.''
Toys for Tots welcomes contributions of toys and money as well as volunteers to help sort and distribute the toys.
To find out how you can help, call Ashley at 539-6646.
Here are some other ways you can help this season: Social Services
Jack Smith, assistant director of Social Services in Suffolk, is accustomed to working with a long Santa Claus list.
With more than 1,000 families with children on his rolls, Smith knows there's a real need for charitable help this time of year.
``It takes a lot to come in and ask for help,'' he said. ``I know people who ask really need it.''
Life at his office grows somewhat chaotic during the holidays, but Smith does not mind. ``We look forward to getting into the swing of things,'' he said.
Smith's biggest concern is finding sponsors for 115 adult families without children, including senior citizens, and for 120 foster children. One group that tugs at his heart are the more than 200 teenagers who are too old to benefit from many charitable programs focused on children 12 and under. Smith hopes some potential sponsors will try to remember the older youngsters as well.
To sponsor a family or individual, call Joyce Gerald or Jack Smith at 539-0216. They will be happy to work with you. Obici Tree of Lights
Billie McClintock, volunteer manager at Obici Hospital, has learned that giving can help the giver as well as the recipient.
McClintock's mother died two years ago, just before Christmas. Since then, McClintock has lit a light on the Tree of Lights in her mother's memory. ``When I see the light lit, there is something living, warm and real about it that helps me get through the holidays,'' she said.
The Tree of Lights, a 14-foot Leyland cypress permanently planted in front of the hospital, will be lighted Thursday at 7 p.m. Holiday entertainment and refreshments will follow the tree lighting ceremony.
Tree lights may be purchased in honor of or in memory of a loved one for $5. Lights in the tree top star may be purchased for $100.
All proceeds will be added to hospital auxiliary funds earmarked to buy a van to help transport outpatients in need of transportation to some hospital services.
To purchase a light, call Obici Hospital at 934-4789. The Salvation Army
The Salvation Army's Christmas programs need your help, according to Lt. Joe Burton, commanding officer of the Salvation Army in Suffolk.
``We need time as much as money,'' Burton said. Volunteers to man the Salvation Army's kettles are particularly hard to find for the weekday shifts because so many people work during the day. ``We really could use people to work just a four-hour shift during the week,'' he said.
Salvation Army kettles are located at Wal-Mart and Big Lots in Suffolk and at the Roses and Super Fresh stores in Franklin during the week. On weekends, additional kettles are set up at the Leggett's Outlet Center, Ryan's and the Super Fresh store in Suffolk.
This year, the Suffolk Salvation Army will distribute 600 filled stockings to needy children. Almost 400 dolls and bears have been lovingly dressed by volunteers and will find new homes with local children on Christmas morning.
You can also help by choosing the name of one of the 585 needy children from an Angel Tree and placing a gift for that child beneath the branches. Trees are located in Big Lots and Wal-Mart in Suffolk and Roses in Franklin.
To offer time, money or gifts, call 539-5201. Coats for Kids
Suffolk Christian Church is collecting warm coats and all-weather coats - new and gently worn - to help local residents brave the winter weather in comfort. Adult size coats and children's sweaters are also welcome.
Used coats are cleaned free of charge by local drycleaners, and church members make small repairs where needed, sort and distribute the coats to local residents.
Although demand for specific sizes is unpredictable, church member Mary Darden explained that infant and toddler sizes are always in short supply and that adult sizes are needed as well. ``Parents come in to bring their children for coats when they need one themselves,'' she said.
The coats will be distributed Dec. 9, from the church, to children and adults referred by the Salvation Army.
To donate a coat or sweater, call 539-9182. Shelter for Homeless
Michelle Tomlin, shelter director, would love to see the shelter empty at Christmastime.
``I would love to see every homeless person with a home for Christmas,'' she said, knowing that it is probably an impossible dream.
Never knowing how many persons will be occupying the shelter that holds 24 plus cribs for babies makes it difficult to know precisely what she will need most. But Tomlin suggests that the shelter can use donations of ``anything that you would use in a home.'' Canned goods, cleaning supplies, toiletries, books, shoes, clothing, diapers and baby bottles are always needed.
Donations may be dropped off at the shelter, 400 Finney Ave. Genieve Shelter
A safe refuge for victims of domestic violence is available year round from the Genieve Shelter.
Like most busy homes, the shelter has a limited budget to cover basic needs.
Barbara Smith, projects coordinator for the shelter, suggested that in addition to canned goods, frozen foods, cleaning supplies, and paper products, the shelter also would welcome a vacuum cleaner and television sets in working order.
For more information on the shelter's needs, call 925-4365. Joy Fund
Organized by The Virginian-Pilot, the Joy Fund provides gifts each Christmas for underprivileged children 12 and younger.
Vouchers for toys and clothing are sent to families who are referred by schools, churches and social service agencies.
Contributions may be mailed or delivered to The Virginian-Pilot office at 157 N. Main St., Suite B, Suffolk, Va. 23434, or 1613 S. Church St., Smithfield, Va. 23430.
For information, call 446-2595. MEMO: [For a related story, see page 15 and 16 of The Sun for this date.]
ILLUSTRATION: [Cover, Color photo]
A HELPER FROM THE HEART
Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER
A lighted Christmas bulb may be purchased in honor of or in memory
of a loved one on The Tree of Lights at Obici Hospital.
Angel Gonzalez mans a Salvation Army kettle outside a Wal-Mart.
Contributions will help fill stockings for 600 children.
Staff photos by MICHAEL KESTNER
Kathy Burton sorts toys and Christmas stockings at the downtown
Salvation Army office. The gifts will dispensed to needy children.
by CNB