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-Press Release, Town of Youngsville
At the end of a year that found too many Americans isolated and dejected due to a wide variety of challenges, the annual Christmas parade in Youngsville, North Carolina helped encourage warm-hearted people from across the nation to respond in the most Christmas-like of ways.
At the conclusion of a hectic week leading up to the town’s Christmas parade, Mayor Fonzie Flowers appeared live on the nationally broadcast ‘Fox and Friends’ television show just two hours before the parade began. After reiterating the town’s careful guidance and precautions to facilitate a safe parade, Mayor Flowers then asked viewers to consider donating to the town’s Shop with a Cop program.
In the 24 hours that followed the mayor’s appearance on national TV, the town received more than $11,000 in donations from at least 500 individual donors – over ten times what the program brought in last year.
This outpouring of support was no surprise to town leaders since the response to the decision to move forward with the Youngsville parade was overwhelmingly positive. In a video published via the town’s YouTube channel, Mayor Fonzie Flowers said, “a tally of the responses to the town’s social media communications regarding our parade has yielded a total of 1,001 positive responses and only 30 negative responses. In other words, more than 97% of community members support the town’s decision. Rest assured that – at least in Youngsville – the will of the people will always be heard.”
Youngsville Chief of Police J. G. Whitley proclaimed, “We never expected this type of response. All I can say is there will be a lot of very happy children this year in Youngsville. All these donations will bring immeasurable joy into the homes of some Youngsville families that are most in need. We cannot thank our community and these generous donors enough.”
The Shop with a Cop event will begin at the town’s community building (115 E. Main Street) at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, December 15, 2020. Residents can donate by clicking on the pop-up notification on the town’s website (townofyoungsville.org) or by visiting tinyurl.com/donate-shop-cop.