By SABRINA GARRETT
The Wilson Post

Wilson County Christmas For All President Alan Ricketts said the program served 2,310 children and 217 senior citizens this holiday season. Applications for the program ended on Tuesday this week and he hopes to have distribution completed on Saturday.

Ricketts said the application process began in October at two locations in Lebanon and Watertown. Parents or guardians who were struggling financially were invited to complete an application and submit it to the program. “We would go by there and start entering those into our database. We try to either place the family with a sponsor or provide the children presents ourselves,” Ricketts said. “The number of sponsors has declined, but monetary donations and gift giving has gone up this year. We have been very fortunate.”

Families received a bag of gifts for the needy children. Ricketts said that Christmas For All budgets about $50 a bag – but the contents are worth much more. “We stretch our dollar. We buy all of our stuff locally and we have had merchants be very good to us and give us deals.”

Staff Writer Sabrina Garrett can be contacted at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .