Steve Centers, manager of the Wal-Mart in Williamsburg, Ky., presents Mountain Outreach Director Marc Hensley with a $1,000 gift, to be deposited in MO’s Christmas Gift Day fund.

Williamsburg, Ky. – On Tuesday, February 8, University of the Cumberlands’ Mountain Outreach program received a $1,000 check from Wal-Mart, to be added to the Christmas Gift Day fund. Later that day, Mountain Outreach student volunteers shopped at Wal-Mart and spent $500 to buy winter coats, sweaters and other outerwear in all sizes to stock the organization’s Community Distribution Center warehouse.

For more than 26 years, Mountain Outreach, a student-led service organization of University of the Cumberlands, has constructed 135 homes for deserving, working, area families and individuals who for financial or health reasons have been unable to provide safe, comfortable, basic housing for themselves. The group also has built wheelchair ramps and provided badly needed home repairs for hundreds of local residents. Throughout the year, Mountain Outreach provides clothing, furniture and household items, as well as personal care items, to disadvantaged families through its CDC. Each December, the group holds two gift days; one for children to choose gifts for their parents, and one that allows parents to choose gifts for their families. Mountain Outreach students present positive role models that inspire disadvantaged children to achieve.

Ashley Collard, University of the Cumberlands’ sophomore and Mountain Outreach volunteer, fills a shopping cart with coats, all of which will go to stock the MO Community Distribution Center warehouse.