Commercial News — Project Success fulfills children’s wishes

DANVILLE – Project Success of Vermilion County, Inc. literally “wrapped up” the 20th year of its Christmas Wish List program by wrapping 1,500 gifts for more than 200 area children and teens in need.

“I wrapped more gifts in a week than I have wrapped in my whole life,” Project Success’ Chief Executive Officer Lucas Seilhymer said Monday. “We had three people wrapping gifts for eight hours a day for a whole week.”

This year’s goal of providing gifts and basic necessities to a record number of area children and teens who are in the after school program was a lofty one, but due to the generosity of local businesses and community members, the Christmas Wish List program was a huge success, Seilhymer said.

Project Success was able to provide warm clothing, shoes, winter coats, hats, gloves, stockings, hygiene items, toys and other gifts to 242 Vermilion County children who are in extreme need and are not being served by any other holiday program in the area.

More children and teens were on the Christmas Wish List than in years past because Project Success received a grant last year to expand its after school enrichment programming and now serves more than 350 additional children in seven new locations in the county.

Project Success serves more than 600 children at 15 after school sites and is in every school district in the county, except Bismarck and Armstrong-Potomac.

In addition to the clothing and gift items, Seilhymer said Project Success was fortunate to receive $10,000 in monetary donations for this year’s Christmas Wish List program.“We raised a lot of money,” he said. “We raised $10,000, and we spent $10,000. That was double what we received last year.”Project Success staff members went shopping “to fill in the gaps” where more clothing or gifts were needed. “Some of the Project Success women went shopping until 1:30 a.m. and ended up with four cars full of stuff,” he said. “Everything that was donated for the Christmas Wish List was spent on the Christmas Wish List.”

A teen boy’s wish for a bicycle was granted by someone who donated one, Seilhymer said. The teen’s bicycle was stolen this fall and it was his only means of transportation.

The deadline for gift donations was Dec. 11, and then the hours and hours of gift wrapping began. Eventually, the halls and offices of Project Success’ headquarters at 917 N. Walnut St. were filled with gifts.

All of the wrapped gifts were placed in 30-gallon trash bags and tagged with the child’s or teen’s name, with families coming to pick up the gifts Dec. 16-18.

“The people who picked up the gifts were very, very appreciative,” Seilhymer said.“ We had some leftover wrapping paper we wanted to give away to the families, but they said, ‘We don’t need it because this is all we have for Christmas,’” he said.

Seilhymer said he is happy to know that Project Success, area businesses and community members have provided a good Christmas for a number of families in Vermilion County. “It’s a hectic two weeks, but it was worth it,” he said. “It’s something impressive to be a part of.”