‘Oak Island Angels’ collect and distribute donations to community for Christmas

'Tis the season for giving and one community is giving back to make sure families in Brunswick County have a Merry Christmas. 

OAK ISLAND, NC (WWAY) — ‘Tis the season for giving and one community is giving back to make sure families in Brunswick County have a Merry Christmas.

The Oak Island Angels is a community support organization created by Clarissa Cope six years ago. They’ve raised money for families in need, helped the community after natural disasters, and most recently sent some clothing to Kentucky for people who were impacted by the devastating tornadoes.

On Monday night, they worked to make Christmas special for the elderly and families throughout Brunswick County with “Operation Christmas Eve Giving Back.”

“We started this project 6 years ago, giving back to our nursing home and assisted living and in the last two years, we added on a few families,” Cope said. “It’s amazing because of the support that we have from our community. I, alone, can’t make this happen. All of this was purchased by the people in our community.”

Volunteers, better known as the “angels,” packed gift bags to take to elderly members of the community, and parents who signed up their families came to pick up boxes that were made special for their children.

“I’ve cried like 10 times since I’ve been here today because giving back is the most important part that you can do as a human,” Volunteer Clarissa Vaughan said. “I’ve never wanted for anything and giving back today has been awesome.”

More than 400 bags are going to the nursing home and assisted living facilities in Southport and more than 20 families had signed up with their children’s wish list before the Monday distribution event. Then, during the event, they added three more families made up of 10 children total.

“I was like, how are we going to make this happen? And checks started coming today and money started coming today! So now we’re going to shop again and those families are going to have Christmas and if more comes Christmas Eve, they’re going to have Christmas too because we’re going to shop,” Cope said.

The Oak Island Angels created a Christmas tree “shop” where people can come and select trees and ornaments for free throughout the holiday season and they still have some trees and ornaments remaining. For more information on the tree shop and more, visit their Facebook group.