Around 600 of the County's youth were provided Christmas gifts thanks to the generosity of local groups and citizens.

Sue Calvert leads the DeWitt County Angel Tree program and she indicates between efforts like Shop With a Cop, Shop With a Fireman, and the always generous Clinton and DeWitt County residents, they provided Christmas presents for over 600 DeWitt County Youth this month.

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Clinton Police Chief Ben Lowers indicates they took a trendy slogan used in social cirlces, and turned it into a fundraiser for the Angel Tree program, which he says is "near and dear to their hearts". The Chief explains they loosened their grooming standards within the department for 'no shave November'.

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Last Tuesday, youth of the county were able to be paired with a police officer or a Sheriff's Deputy for the annual Shop with a Cop event. Calvert says the event is never possible without the generous support of Walmart.

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According to Calvert, the children are selected from a pool of the first applicants into the program in the fall, and then they will take on emergency cases after that.

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The support of the emergency responding groups is great, but Calvert says the support of the community as a whole is what makes the program a complete success.

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Several community groups stepped up to help with collection and distribution of gifts and to make donations. Those include:

Douglas Dodge, BPW, Elk's, Macy's who provides coats, Baum's, FFA & Excel club at CHS, Clinton Elementary 5th graders with Senior gift day to nursing home sponsored by Samaritan Room.

Walgreens did a toy drive & employee donation. Syngenta participated in an employee donation drive.

Calvert also credits their Farmer City operation under the direction of Lynda Harman.