Organizers don't want to see any sag this year in efforts to fill cancer patients' Christmas stockings

Sharon Schneider, the organizer of this year's effort, “Hang Tough: Stockings with Love & Care for Cancer Patients,” said each year Butler County merchants agree to be collection sites for gathering small items to be placed in the patients' stockings.

“This year we are going to drive hard to gather stockings within the community. We are striving to exceed the 1,505 stockings we had last year,” Schneider said.

After the collection is over, volunteers take all of the stockings to a single location and work together to fill them. They distribute the stockings over the course of two weeks.

Stockings are sent to patients receiving chemo/radiation treatments at over 10 area cancer centers and hospice units.

Schneider said people in Butler County are fortunate to have so many cancer treatment options so close at hand.

By giving, Schneider said, it's like the donors are telling the patients they hope they can “hang tough” through their treatments.

For the second year, the Butler Township Volunteer Fire District is having multiple collection dates at its fire hall at 121 Sparks Ave.

Karen Godot of Meridian, a Butler Township VFD Auxiliary member who started the effort 11 years ago with her daughter, said the stockings should be filled with gender neutral items such as gift cards, gloves, scarves, slipper socks, hats, blankets, hand and foot warmers, washcloths, dried fruit, note pads, word-find and Sudoku books and travel-size toiletry items.

“We want to provide things to people that will put a smile on their face and something to make a very tough time a little easier,” Godot said.

Godot said some cancer treatments take hours and these items from the stockings could help them pass the time.

But more important to a cancer patient than a physical gift is that it's evidence than someone was thinking of them.

“Everybody knows someone who has dealt with cancer,” Godot said. “It's always nice to know that somebody that doesn't know you from Adam, someone in your community cares about you.”

The Butler Township Volunteer Fire District has scheduled two more collection days for Hang Tough items at its fire hall, 121 Sparks Ave.7 to 8 p.m. Nov. 48 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 16.A list of other collection sites can be found at hangtoughstockings.wixsite.com/hangtough.