A year of COVID-19 has required a lot of thinking out of the box as annual events required some rethinking to accomplish much-needed goals. Creatively, MountainPlex Properties, PracticeLink and the Allman families adjusted plans to successfully raise over $2,500 to help four local organizations in the Summers County area.
Instead of hosting a Holiday Open House at the McCreery for about 250, this year carry out dinners were prepared by The Market on Courthouse Square helped achieve the desired result.
MountainPlex Vice President of Business Operations Stephanie Stickler explained, “Every year we look forward to the planning and preparing the event and we were so excited to add ‘giving boxes’ last year.”
“Giving boxes” placed throughout the McCreery Conference and Event Center helped raise money for local organizations, but COVID-19 restrictions made preserving the spirit of the party challenging.
The sale of 100-holiday dinners, accompanied by generous donations, generated just over $2,500 to split between Summers County Public Library, First United Methodist Church of Hinton’s Yummy Bag Ministry, The Summers County Middle and High School Bands, and REACHH Family Resource Center.
Sheila Allman delivered checks to the middle and high school band directors, Tim Simms and James Messenger, and the Summers County Public Library’s director, Austin Persinger.
The gifts are an example of ways Hinton’s small community is making sure that despite a holiday season riddled by COVID-19, local organizations will still have a healthy bottom line.
