River View FFA gives children a country Christmas
COSHOCTON – River View High School’s FFA Touch of Country Christmas is all about putting smiles on the faces of children.
“My kids look forward to this,” said Dick Addy, who is a bus driver for Hopewell. “For a lot of them this is the highlight of their Christmas. It’s a fantastic thing these guys do.”
This is the 15th year for the event, which gives children the opportunity to pet a variety of animals, ride ponies, play games and visit with Santa Claus.
“It’s a really great way for us to reach out to the community, especially the younger members of it,” said Allyssa McMullen, one of River View’s FFA advisors. “A lot of these kids wouldn’t have the opportunity to experience something like this.”
She also said the event teaches the FFA members how to work together as a team and interact with the little kids who attend.
Students from schools in Coshocton, Muskingum, Licking and Knox counties are invited to attend Touch of Country Christmas.
“I like meeting the kids out front and seeing their faces and wide eyes,” McMullen said.
Collin McCoy, a junior at River View, enjoyed watching the children have fun.
“It takes a while to set this up and is a lot of hard work, but then you get to see the kids’ smiling faces and you know you made them happy,” he said.
McCoy has been involved with Touch of Country Christmas before, but this was freshmen Allysun Aslaksen and Jessica Yacapraro’s first year helping out. Aslaksen was carrying around a rabbit for the children to pet and Yacapraro was helping them color and write their name on a special wall.
“It’s great seeing the kids and their excitement over Santa,” Aslaksen said. “It’s also so cute when they pet the animals.”
Jim Rich, who is River View’s other FFA advisor, said they try to add something new every year and the Warsaw Lions Club is a big help with that.
“Seeing the kids come in makes all the work that goes into this worth it,” he said.
josie@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
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