In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, many plans have changed for the community. Christmas Baskets at the Horse Center is one of them. This year, Audrey Hawkins, President of the Board for Rockbridge Christmas Baskets, and Jamie Joyner, Vice President for Rockbridge Christmas Baskets, are taking extra precautions to keep everyone safe and healthy. 

Christmas Baskets at the Virginia Horse Center is a time where people around Rockbridge County come and pack boxes with food for families in need. With COVID-19 changing our lives this past year, Hawkins and Joyner made Christmas Baskets happen. 

“Our mission was too important to just abandon all the families in need, especially now,” said Hawkins.  

One concern they had was food. Stores have been low on food since the start of this global pandemic. Kroger has the list of items they need and are trying to get everything they have requested. All toys for the childrens bags have been ordered, since there are concerns with shipping.  

“The board has been working hard since September first/the beginning of September,” said Hawkins. 

In normal years, there is usually a packing day, but, since this year is far from normal, there will be a packing week. Making people wear masks in public is hard, with people not liking the feeling or saying they cannot breathe. However, masks will be required while packing boxes this year.  There will also be social distancing, hand sanitizer stations, and a sanitizing team to make sure people keep their hands as clean as possible.  According to the Virginia Health Department, there can only be 250 people in VHC, but they are going to limit it to only 150. There will be a delivery group that will be limited to a certain number of families and will also do contactless delivery.   

“Saturday, December twelfth, will begin our week with volunteer teams.” said Hawkins “Monday and Tuesday, December fourteenth and fifthteenth, will be devoted to packing hundreds of bags of toys. From Wednesday to Saturday, the sixthteenth through the nineteenth, we will fill 1,850 boxes of food,” said Hawkins.