Operation Sleighbell plans expansion in effort to help needy families at Christm

DECATUR - Although Operation Sleighbell served only about 50 more families this past Christmas than it did the year before, the possibility of expanding to a fourth distribution site for 2007 already seems to be a certainty.

Donations of stock that stores can't sell, which the ministry provides to needy families at Christmastime for $1 per item, will require the use of a second building for storage in the Champaign area in a matter of weeks, said founder Rick Smith, pastor of Judson Chapel Baptist Church.

"New merchandise is coming in at a frightening rate," Smith said. "I already have 14 Christmas trees never out of the box and enough ornaments to decorate those trees and probably even more."

That means Smith will be looking hard for a distribution site, possibly in Peoria, to join sites in Decatur, Mattoon and Champaign so families won't have to drive so far to shop.

"We were waiting for an increase in donations before we expanded," he said.

Decatur's distribution site was in the former Schnuck's supermarket.

The 2006 activity report for Operation Sleighbell shows that 1,797 families received an average of $377.75 worth of new clothes, toys and household items, compared to 1,751 families and $389.75 worth of merchandise in 2005.

The number of Macon County families served dropped from 487 to 373, while most other counties in the Herald & Review's circulation area saw the number of families increase.

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n Coles County had 67 families, up from 58

n Effingham had 58, up from 22

n Shelby had 55, up from 43

n Sangamon had 48, up from 25

n DeWitt had 35, up from 13

n Christian had 30, up from 28

n Fayette had 24, up from 20

n Moultrie had 10, up from six.

Because the number of shopping appointments was limited, Smith said Macon County families may have been displaced by others who got through first on the telephone.

As for other Central Illinois counties, Douglas had 10 families, down from 25 in 2005; Logan had three, down from four; and Piatt stayed the same at four families.

Besides another distribution site, Smith said he will also be looking for storage space in Decatur and Mattoon for the tables and racks used to display merchandise.

"Right now, we keep them all in Champaign," he said, "and getting them where they need to be every year is a major undertaking."

Theresa Churchill can be reached at tchurchill@herald-review.com or 421-7978.

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