Union County Christmas Bureau provides gifts and essentials to families

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — Several hundred families in Union County are getting some help from one organization this year, and it’s continuing a yearslong tradition.

Dozens of bikes were lined up for kids in need, and they were all donated by hospital staff at Atrium Health Union, showing that their love and care extends beyond the hospital. The effort was organized to support the Union County Christmas Bureau.

For decades, the group has helped ensure kids have toys under the tree on Christmas.

“We ask the Christmas Bureau if there are other needs ... this year, they said they had struggles getting enough diapers, so we said hey we’ll do a diaper drive so we have kind of a combination of bikes and diaper drive this year,” said Denise White, the chief nurse at Atrium Health Union.

Last Thursday, boxes of diapers filled a trailer, along with the bikes, and were dropped off at the Christmas Bureau’s warehouse.

“It’s going to be a fantastic year,” said Chris Ziegle with Union County Human Services.

She says families who met the income requirement and qualified for the program have shared their wishlists. Thanks to some summer planning, the community this year has been extremely generous.

“These are the donations we’ve already received and we expect to receive a lot more ... our community is so unique; Union County is one of the few counties that can provide support to their community at the level that we do,” Ziegle said. “We supply Christmas gifts, stockings, also a food box of nonperishable items to each family.”

The Union County Christmas Bureau is also the Toys for Tots distributor for the county. They say they’ve received all the gifts they need to distribute next week, but you can still help by donating money through the county’s website at this link.

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