It’s a cold, dark evening in mid-December when a parade of emergency lights go by. At first, you say a prayer - there is no way this can be good! As they keep coming, however, down the road in a stream you realize that the volunteers of Lights of Christmas are on their way to someone’s home to make their Christmas.
For the past several years, volunteers with the Lights of Christmas have blessed our community during the holidays, helping those families in very real and very difficult circumstances experience joy. Years ago the operation began as an initiative for children to get treated to a shopping trip with local emergency personnel - Fire, EMS, Dispatchers, and police officers. That initiative got bigger. With growing needs, in purchasing gifts, recruiting more volunteers, and a very special delivery with sirens blaring and lights flashing. The initiative has now turned into a large-scale effort involving the community, which can nominate families in special circumstances to receive a special Christmas.
It’s literally become a parade of joy to behold!
Lights of Christmas is well underway in its efforts to make 2023 a Christmas to remember for those in the Outer Banks and surrounding communities. Many businesses and churches have begun rallying together with Lights of Christmas to purchase gifts, help with wrapping, and donate toward whatever is needed to spread cheer to those who need it most.
We invite you to visit Lights of Christmas on Facebook and give them a follow or contact them if you would like to donate or volunteer. They often have last-minute needs for gifts, in need for volunteer wrappers, and secured storage spaces. Best of all, they post often throughout the Christmas season and go live on their delivery routes. So if you can’t see them through your window, you can catch them online and you don’t have to miss a thing - it will bring tears to your eyes as the joy to be experienced by a family is palpable.
This initiative has been going strong for years spurred by an idea planted in Local Resident Becca Cooke, who shared the idea with her friends in local law enforcement and emergency response. They jumped on board and they’ve been going strong ever since. Cooke says, “It’s our Christmas to be able to stand in the gap. To give with a full heart and want nothing in return.”
Be sure to follow Lights of Christmas on Facebook for all of their inspirational posts, videos, and behind-the-scenes footage this year, OR to lend a hand.