More than two dozen county youngsters will have a merrier Christmas this year, thanks to a Greenville civic organization.

The Greenville Kiwanis held their Children’s Christmas Party on Tuesday morning at 11:30 at the Greenville-Butler County Boys and Girls Club.

25 children, all referred to the organization by the Butler County Department of Human Resources, were invited, along with their families, to enjoy a meal with the Kiwanis.

Greenville Key Club members wrapped all the gifts for the youngsters and created festive holiday decorations featuring Rudolphs

and Christmas trees for all the green and red-covered tables.

Santa himself arrived on the scene. As he passed out the gift-filled bags to the smiling recipients, St. Nick reminded the children to be good and say their prayers each night.

Susan Murphy, who organized the event for the third year, said everything was &uot;absolutely wonderful.&uot;

&uot;In the past, we have done this for ten underprivileged children. This year, Marcia Allen of DHR supplied us with $1,500 and the Kiwanis put in $1,000 for the gifts – allowing us to help 15 more needy children.&uot;

Last week club members had a night of shopping for the children, arranged by new Wal-Mart manager, Bill McCrary.

&uot;Bill made sure things went smoothly for us. He set up a special checkout lane for the Kiwanis. Linda Minuard, a customer service representative at Wal-Mart, did a great job getting us checked out. We couldn’t have done all this without them,&uot; Murphy said.

Murphy also gave thanks to GHS principal and Kiwanian, Dr. Kathy Murphy; Debbie Lawrence, GHS Key Club sponsor, and all the members of the Kiwanis for their support of the project.

&uot;The Greenville Kiwanis are a good group of generous people. The Christmas party is very heartwarming and rewarding. The families and kids all seem so appreciative of what we do,&uot; Murphy said.