HOLIDAY GIFT-WRAPPING BOOTH RAISES $4,400 TO HELP NEEDY

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, January 23, 1993                   TAG: 9301230039
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-7   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium
HOLIDAY GIFT-WRAPPING BOOTH RAISES $4,400 TO HELP NEEDY
More than $4,400 was raised for the Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program at a holiday gift-wrapping booth at New River Valley Mall.
About 70 volunteers from St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Christiansburg worked on the project, helping build the booth, wrap packages and disassemble the booth, said Mary Beazley, project coordinator.
The gift-wrapping was available Dec. 4-24, with prices ranging from 75 cents for small jewelry boxes to $10 for oversize packages, Beazley said. The average wrapping cost was $2.
She was unsure how many yards of wrapping paper were used. "It seems like millions," Beazley said. Seven commercial-size rolls of paper were used.
The volunteers grossed $5,700, but had to pay for the paper, boxes and ribbons. They presented $4,424.37 to the emergency assistance program.
The gift-wrapping project was previously handled by St. Peter's Anglican Catholic Church. The Rev. Harry Scott, founder of the assistance program, said the gift-wrapping was done for several years to raise money for parish projects, but the group decided to take a break from wrapping.
This was the second year St. Paul's handled the project and donated the money to the Montgomery County Emergency Assistance Program. In 1991, the group raised $2,650.
This year's profit of twice that figure will come in handy, Scott said.
"Oh, it's just fantastic," he said.
The money will be used as part of the general fund to assist needy families with rent, fuel, utility and prescription payments.
Providing money to the emergency assistance program is important, Beazley said, and she hopes the church will continue the project.
"We wanted to give the money back into the community," where it would provide the most benefit, Beazley said. "We just felt it was a worthwhile project."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB