by David Silva
For many individuals 2020 is undoubtedly one of the toughest and most stressful years they have ever had to endure. Uncertainty, fear, and the feeling of disconnectedness are all too prevalent this holiday season. Constantly adapting to the many new changes and restrictions are also taking their toll on people’s morale and overall holiday spirit. Yet, for the local Altrusa International Organization, their mission is to bring back a little joy and love to the community this holiday.
Altrusa International is an internationally known community service organization that encourages community service, leadership development, promoting membership growth, and communicating information for people all around the nation. And for the past 22 years Portales’ local Altrusa district has hosted the “Holiday Happening” event for the Great Plains region. This event showcases highly decorated themed tables that can be sponsored by individuals or businesses from around the community, with all proceeds benefitting local charities. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic the Holiday Happening event could not take place this year. However, for the Portales Altrusa Club President Beverly Bennett and Club Secretary Cozetta Moore, undertaking new approaches to serving their community, while following state regulations immediately jumped into play.
“Since we couldn’t decorate tables this year or host our event, we decided to decorate chairs and place them around the community, in hopes of spreading some cheer to the people of Portales. We decided we want to add to the merriment and turned it into a family-fun scavenger search with the 1st place winner receiving $100, the 2nd place winner receiving $75, and the 3rd place winner receiving $25 gift certificates for businesses around town. The Roosevelt Review also contributed an additional $100 to the winning prizes,” said Bennett.
Bennett went on to explain how she believes the Altrusa Christmas Chairs have had a positive impact on the community’s confidence.
“The chairs are meant to bring joy to individuals and their families throughout the community. Driving around town and looking for all the different beautifully decorated chairs, gives families a sense of unity and enhances their moods considering the pandemic,” said Bennett.
Moore, a long-time resident of Portales went on to add that from the first initial months of the pandemic they knew they needed to do something special for the community.
“We decide back in early spring that we would decorate the chairs with different themes and place them around the community and in front of local businesses, to get people talking about them. We initially started out with only 27 chairs, but now have over 50 Christmas chairs for this holiday season. Our mission as a community service organization is to help our community in any way we can, and we believe boosting the community’s morale is a good start,” said Moore.
When asked if either of the Altrusa members had any words of encouragement to help people get through these difficult times and holiday season, both members wholeheartedly expressed, “To have faith and to never lose hope.”
The 2020 holiday season is undeniably like any other holiday season society have ever gone through. However, the joy and love that is spread all throughout our community is far more tenacious than any looming uncertainty. Supporting each other and our community is one of the greatest gifts that can be instilled in everyone’s heart this holiday season.
