The Wickliffe Recreation Department is currently in the midst of Holiday Helping Hands, a program the department has been coordinating for the last 40 years to assist the less fortunate and families in need. According to Recreation Director Tim Stopp, the department is slated to help 37 families with a combined total of more than 100 children. Stopp credits Truline, Lubrizol and the Wickliffe City Club Inc. for helping to make the event a success. Holiday Helping Hands began in the 1970s and has since worked with the schools in Wickliffe to identify needy families. “We partner with local businesses,” Stopp said. “What they will do is purchase presents for the families they receive, the rec department then coordinates these presents coming back to City Hall and then we have different organizations who partner with us to deliver these gifts to families.” Among the local businesses that have sponsored the program include not only Lubrizol, Truline and the Wickliffe City Club, but the Knights of Columbus, Vittorio’s Buon Appetito, Two Men and a Truck and several private citizens. The Wickliffe Fire Department has also participated in the program. Prior to the rec department gift receiving request forms, they coordinate with the counselors and the sponsors at the school, who make time to reach out to the families and assist filling out the forms, said Mayor Joe Sakacs. “The department then processes the forms and distributes lists to all of the sponsors,” he said. “Children will be having a great Christmas  who may not be having one if it wasn’t for Holiday Helping Hands.” Families who receive the help have continued to be happy and thankful, Stopp said. “It’s encouraging that companies like Lubrizol and Truline have stepped up to the plate, and provided for families in Wickliffe,” he said. “Wickliffe City Club has taken families and added to the ideas, and the lists the kids give us, so it’s nice to be able to help out those in need.”