LAPEL — 1,053 stuffed stockings are being donated to kids still affected by Hurricane Helene damage.
From local high school students to caring community members, the town of Lapel is ensuring every Hampton, Tennessee student has a Christmas gift this year.
“Some over there have lost their home. They don’t have a shower. They’re living in tents. They don’t have the basic amenities that we experience. So, it just didn’t feel like we could continue to go through life like normal," Stephanie Evelo said.
Evelo is one of the creators of Lapel’s Labor of Love.
The project began about nine weeks ago when Evelo and others collected water and supplies to take to devastated areas of North Carolina.
Evelo knew she wanted to help again for the holidays.
“We decided to go across the state line into Tennessee, it’s just a little bitty community. There are only 1,700 people. Lapel here is 2,500 people. So, we chose a community that’s similar to ours,” she said.
Coincidentally, both Lapel and Hampton have the same mascot.
“Bulldogs helping Bulldogs. It was meant to be," Volunteer Crystal Ake said.
It’s taken support from the whole community to pull off this operation: hundreds of volunteers, donors and even her own children.
“We’ve been so busy doing this, we haven’t even stuffed stockings for our own children. But when we mentioned it to our children, they said ‘We don’t need anything.’ They recognize the difference between a want and a need," Ake said.
Volunteers will be driving the present-filled trailer down to Tennessee early Thursday morning.
