The Montgomery Christmas Committee is a beautiful organization, and this past year they worked to provide Christmas dinners for 167 families and presents for 250 children and teenagers in the Montgomery Area School District. The organization is run entirely by volunteers, and takes an estimated 100 people to make the Christmas distribution happen.

Aside from the members of the committee, there are local organizations who donate time, money, materials, and the use of vehicles for the distribution, countless townsfolk who donated toys, money, and grocery items, and individuals who wanted to remain anonymous that spent many days and evenings wrapping presents and packing dinner boxes. Because the committee is run entirely by volunteers, there are no administrative costs. Monetary donations are used to buy food.

For more than 40 years the committee was headed by the late Nancy Gruver. After her passing in February of 2019, Virginia Hill took over as chairman and Nancy’s daughter Jodi Ellis serves as co-chairman. Both

women have been on the committee for many years. Virginia lives in town and handled many of the hands-on aspects. Jodi lives an hour away and did everything she could do by computer and phone and also traveled to

town to help when needed. Nancy’s love and generosity were recalled often during the preparation for distribution of the dinner boxes and gifts on Christmas Eve by Virginia and Jodi.

Dennis Gruver, Nancy’s husband, also remains heavily involved in the committee by picking up all of the Toys for Tots boxes within the school district. Thanks to the generosity of people in town, this involved many trips. He also helped out in many other capacities, including sharing his knowledge of everything that Nancy had to do to keep the committee running smoothly.

Virgina commented, “We’ve had a lot of help. People have been wonderful.” Virginia and Jodi wanted to publicly express their thanks to: Toys for Tots, Koppers, Montgomery Weis, Dollar General, Springs, Montgomery Borough, Clinton Township, Brady Township, Montgomery Water Authority, Montgomery Emergency Management Agency, Montgomery Volunteer Fire Company, Clinton Township Fire Company, Washington Township Fire Company, Tom Styer, Dennis Gruver, many local churches, and individuals who wished to remain anonymous.

Many, many thanks to the Montgomery Christmas Committee and everyone who helped the organization spread Christmas cheer throughout town. Whether you are a member of the committee, serve with one of the organizations that volunteered in the distribution, or you donated money, toys, or time, you made a positive difference in our community. The Montgomery Christmas Committee truly is the embodiment of small town America at its finest.

THOT “For it is good to be children sometimes, and never better than at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child Himself.” from Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”

Thursday, Jan. 2-Lady Raider basketball home game against CMVT, 6 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 6-Montgomery Borough Council will meet at 6:30 for a reorganizational meeting.

Tuesday, Jan. 7-Boys’ varsity basketball game have a home game against Millville at 6 p.m.

Wednesday, Jan. 8-Lady Raider basketball home game against Bucktail at 6 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 11-Varsity wrestling will host “Matness at the MACC” Tournament, 10 a.m.

Saturday, Jan. 11-Adult book club will meet at the library from 2-3 p.m. Booklovers ages 18 and over are welcome.

The Montgomery Emergency Management Agency is recruiting volunteers. To learn more, call Dennis Gruver at 547-6777.

To stay up-to-date on weather warnings and emergency instructions that are specific to our town, follow the Montgomery

Emergency Management Agency Facebook page.

Have you ever wanted to be an emergency responder? Do you want to do something to help our emergency responders? Volunteers are needed to

serve our local fire companies. If interested, call either the Montgomery Volunteer Fire Company at 547-1380 or the Clinton

Township Fire Department at 547-1000 to get more information.

The Montgomery Lions Club is accepting new members. If you would like to join, call Roger McRae at (570) 971-2825.