At a time when holiday cheer can be a little more difficult to come by for some, Share Your Christmas brings hope and joy to children in need in the Cleveland area. Founded and championed by Dinah Cochran, this endeavor provides Christmas gifts to underprivileged children each year, putting smiles on their faces and Christmas joy in their hearts.
At the big giveaway event on Dec. 16 at the Douglass School Gym in Cleveland, Share Your Christmas, now in its 32nd year, helped a record number of families this year, providing toys, shoes, jackets and other essentials to 430 kids aged 0-13 years old. To add a touch of choice and personal preference, each child was also given the opportunity to select additional items such as phone accessories, track suits, socks, hand sanitizers and lotions.
Reflecting on the most recent success and the future of Share Your Christmas, Cochran acknowledged the weight of her undertaking and the Herculean effort that goes into planning and executing the event every year.
“Every year, we see more and more people needing help. I am the kind of person that if I see a need, I try to fill it,” she said. “I will be 70 years old in a few months and I wonder how much longer I will be able to do it without getting a lot more help throughout the year.”
Cochran nonetheless is grateful for all the help she has for the big giveaways, which is a huge undertaking of organizing and arranging the bags of presents, rows of clothes and shoes, and the dozens of bikes that are part of the event.
The planning for Share Your Christmas begins the day after Christmas when Cochran, always looking for a good deal, visits local stores, gathering discounted Christmas toys and goods. These are then stored away for safe keeping until the next event.
For Share Your Christmas to expand, Cochran is calling for assistance from someone with legal experience in the community to help with the creation of a 501(c)3 non-profit, which she believes would enable her to qualify for toys given away by the U.S. Marine Reserves’ Toys for Tots. It’s a goal she plans to work toward this year.
This year’s event would not have been possible without the generosity of people in the Cleveland community. Donations this year came from Liberty County District Attorney Jennifer Bergman, Pct. 6 Constable Zack Harkness, attorney Chad Etheridge, The Christmas Ranch, John and Tammy Hart of Hart’s RV and Boat Storage, The Spot, McClain’s Lawn Service, Tennessee Titans player and Cleveland native Kevin Strong, John Davis, and Grace Community Church of Cleveland. For each of the last two years, Strong donated 50 bicycles.
Cleveland Mayor Danny Lee, who volunteered at the giveaway event along with his wife, Barbara, said Share Your Christmas is an amazing organization that means a lot to the community.
“This is just a beautiful sight to see with the community coming together to help children in need. A lot of the people that you see here today, their children probably wouldn’t get anything for Christmas if not for Share Your Christmas,” Lee said. “It touches my heart to see these kids happy when they see Santa Claus. I just love and admire Dinah for the hard work she puts in to help people. She is one of the reasons why Cleveland is such an amazing community.”
