Campbell, Roach lead smooth transition for Holmes County Share-A-Christmas

For so many years, Bob Porter has been the face of Holmes County Share-A-Christmas. As the chairman of the organization, he has led by example, even as many other people stepped up and delivered during the past three-plus decades of giving back to families in Holmes County.

This year Porter handed the reins over to a pair of longtime contributors in Mindi Campbell and Nikki Roach, who quietly stepped into the leadership role and kept the machine running as SAC delivered presents and other gifts to 235 area families and over 110 senior citizens.

Now with this year’s event in the rearview mirror, the two co-chairs embraced the challenges of leading such an integral part of Holmes County and did exactly what was necessary for the endeavor to enjoy another successful Christmas season of giving.

“We’re chairing in name only,” Roach said. “This is truly a community-driven thing with an incredible number of people playing key roles. We’ve had so many people step up over the years, and our committee is made up of people who have been instrumental in heading up each of our various committees.”

For many years Roach has headed up the Christmas tree giving at several different locations while Campbell has spearheaded the perishable portion of the program.

Porter believed these two women could easily slide into the role as co-chair a few years ago and began urging them to consider doing so.

They have done so seamlessly, and prior to agreeing to do so, the two asked Porter to do one thing for them.

“This is such a big undertaking, and I told Bob that we didn’t even know or understand everything he did in chairing Share-A-Christmas,” Roach said. “He always just told us that everyone does their thing, and it all just happens every year. So two years ago, I told him he needed to start writing down everything he does.”

Porter gave the co-chairs some detailed notes as to what to do and expect.

What they found is there are a lot of different entities, businesses and organizations that take part, and they took the past two years to prepare for what was to come this year.

“The transition has gone very well,” Campbell said. “One important thing for us is that we’ve both been around Share-A-Christmas for a long time, and we’ve both headed up committees, but most importantly, we mesh together and complement each other’s strengths.”

Campbell has been involved with SAC for three decades and Roach has logged 19 years with the organization, so together they have loads of experience and have seen the many intricacies and necessities that drive SAC.

Campbell said they both have their own distinct skill sets that together make up everything necessary to co-chair Share-A-Christmas.

“I’m very methodical in my thinking process, more with the numbers,” Campbell said.

While SAC delivery day took place Saturday, Dec. 13 and the rush to get all the gifts and food in place to deliver to families is now over, Holmes County SAC doesn’t stop until next year.

SAC rolls on throughout the year, providing much-needed items to families in a variety of ways.

One such way is the Child Relief Fund, which provides financial aid to students whose families are struggling financially, helping pay for events like field trips and helping to purchase needed items like coats, hats, gloves, medical supplies and more.

In addition, SAC provides aid to families whose homes a fire destroyed, helping those families recoup some of the things lost in the fire.

“It’s an ongoing process of giving that comes from our community caring enough to give to others in need throughout the year, not only during Christmas,” Roach said.

“It takes all of us to make SAC a success,” Campbell said. “There are so many ways to contribute, and what we do is just a small part of the equation. SAC really is something that we as a community and county can celebrate together.”

From the early days of Mike Taylor, Sam Steimel, John Thern and Bill Baker through Porter’s many years of leadership and the many others who have dedicated themselves to this endeavor, Holmes County SAC continues to be at the heart of the spirit of giving in Holmes Countians everywhere.