By Barbara McHale
During the holidays, the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother Committee is extremely busy preparing for a season of giving. The committee is a nonprofit, charitable organization established in 1972 by Lucy Corr, then superintendent of the Chesterfield County Welfare Department. The program’s sole purpose is to assist families in need in the community during the holiday season. Although the committee was not founded until 1972, the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas program actually began in 1945.
“Miss Lucy” came to Chesterfield County in 1945 to serve as Superintendent of the Welfare Department. Realizing that many families did not have the means to celebrate the holidays,
Lucy Corr with friends
she and her small staff volunteered their time collecting food, toys, clothing, and monetary donations to help those in need. Miss Lucy relied on the police chief for her support in delivering food and gifts to families in Chesterfield and Colonial Heights.
As the county population grew, so too did the number of families in need. Corr and her helpers were no longer able to keep up with the demand. In 1972, she and citizen volunteers organized the present Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother Committee. The program’s mission is “to ensure that in our community, no family is without food, no child is without toys and clothing, and no elder is forgotten as we celebrate the holidays.”
In 1979, Corr who was thought of as the de facto Christmas Mother, became the first official Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother. Each year, a committee member is selected to serve as Christmas Mother, the official spokesperson for that year. This year the Christmas Mother is Deborah Koller.
In December, the exhibition building at the County Fairgrounds becomes the Christmas center. The number of families served has increased from over 140 in 1960 to over 1,300 in 2016. The program’s budget in the same time has increased from $1,500 iplus in-kind donations to $200,000 plus in-kind donations .
The Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother program is a testimony to the work of Miss Lucy Corr and her dedicated volunteers.
If you wish to donate to the Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother, you may send a check payable to Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother, P.O. Box 2500, Chesterfield, VA 23832 . You can also donated on online at www.cchchristmasmother.com.
SOURCES: History of Chesterfield-Colonial Heights Christmas Mother Committee. Dorothy Armstrong, 1985
Sandra Sizemore, 1995.
News Leader, December, January, 1960
See photo of Miss Lucy Corr dressed as Santa on page 2.
