by Ali Rockett
Staff writer for the Robersonian
LUMBERTON — Christmas came a day early for about 50 Lumberton kids.
AÂ trailer overflowing with boxes of all sizes and wrapped with green and red paper was parked in front of the Parkview Recreation Department at the corner of Inman and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and attracted about 50 kids of all ages like moths to a flame.
Their eager hands reached for the gifts as Gene Jones, president of Redstone-Hayswood Connections, a community-based website and organization that aims to promote education and positivity into the black community, passed out the brightly colored packages.
“We’re trying to set an example for the youth, especially the black males because they are destroying themselves in record numbers,� said Jones,who grew up in a housing project just behind the building. “There isn’t much good that comes out of these communities and we want to change that.
“We want to show these children the community cares about them. And if we start at ages three to five, maybe by the time they are 15 or 16, they’ll have a positive outlook on life and in themselves.�
The children gripped their gifts with ear-to-ear grins, looking at the fragile wrapping paper with anticipation.
But they will have to wait until Christmas Day to find out what they got.
“I think I got a car,� yelled Niheem Davis, 5.
“I got a game,� said Arron Jones, 4.
“I don’t think I can wait,� said Areanna Davis, 8, whose package had a flap of wrapping paper precariously hanging from the corner.
Erica Wright, holding 1-year-old Jo-Jo, was delighted to see the children so excited.
“I’m a single mother with three kids,� Wright said. “This helps a lot.�
Jones said that the toys, new and used, were donated through the website. He hopes to make the program, called “Keep Christmas Alive,� an annual event.
“It was all worth it to see all those kids smiling,� Jones told the other organizers of the event, Al Floyd and Cedrick Thompson.
The website, redstonehaywood.com, came online in March. Jones and other organizers are trying to reach out to other members of the community and other organizations to promote their goals.
“It’s like a hand with all the different organizations going in five different directions,� Jones said. “Then when you close it, they become more powerful together in a fist.�
