SYBENE -- Snow was the only thing missing as the Lawrence County CAO hosted "Christmas in July" last week at the Lawrence County Multi-Purpose Senior Center.

Christmas music, wrapped door prizes, two decorated rooms, a few Christmas trees and a ham dinner helped set the mood during the week's activities.

"I try to do something with a theme every month," Darlene Green, site coordinator for the senior center, said. "This is just 'Christmas in July'. It gives them something to look forward to."

"One of our pantries needed food so we added that to it," added Sylvesta Hollbock, ceramics teacher at the center.

Everyone was asked to bring canned food that was donated to the South Point United Methodist Church.

"This helps a great deal," said Gladys Dills, director of the church's food pantry. "We are taking care of more families than we ever had before."

"We don't get any help except from individuals," she said. "We ran awfully low but God answers every prayer."

"We tried to get back to what Christmas really means," Green added.

This is the second year they have offered a taste of the holidays five months early. Last year it only lasted for a day and they tried to do too much for one day, Green said.

One room was decorated entirely with items participants brought from home including quilts, dolls, figures and more.

"It gave us something else to think about besides our pain," Norma Lee Fisher, South Point, said. "It gave us something else to do."

Another room was full of ceramics sculpted by seniors who take classes at the center.

"We are just like a little family back there,"

Hollbock said. "We want others to come. They don't know what they are missing."

The theme for August 30 is a "Hawaiian luau," September's is "Back to School" and October's is "Octoberfest." Michael Caldwell/The Ironton Tribune