LISBON — Lisbon is putting the theory of “it takes a village” into practice this holiday season with its Small Village, Big Hearts Giving Event.

The initiative is aimed at streamlining holiday assistance to families in the Lisbon school district — bringing 14 agencies in the village and their resources together.

“I began reaching out to local groups and was so happy to see that many were interested in working together to streamline the process for those in need and reduce duplications in services,” said event organizer Marti Grimm. “As a group, we worked together to create an intake process and market the event, but each group assumed responsibility for performing their own fundraising and coordinating the volunteers for the distribution.”

Through collaboration of the organizations, as well as community members who have provided private donations and the Lisbon Police Department’s “Fill A Cruiser” campaign at Save-A-Lot, 107 Lisbon households will benefit and receive nearly every item put on their respective lists.

According to official numbers, requests fulfilled include 103 food vouchers to be redeemed at the Lisbon Save A Lot, hats and gloves for 129 children, hats and gloves for 61 adults or senior citizens, 101 children blankets, clothing for 123 children, 23 puzzle/activity books for seniors, 182 gifts/toys for children and 20 hygiene packs for teens.

Eligible households were asked to register for the event in the month of November on a first-come, first-serve basis to allow time for the various participating organizations to prepare. The selected families were assigned a time slot and day this month to pick up their items at the Lion’s Club in Lisbon.

“This year is our first event, and we are hoping to continue this annually and bring on more groups interested in participating,” Grimm said. “Without the members of our community, this size of an event could never happen. Lisbon truly is a small village filled with people with big hearts.”

Agencies that came together to give the gift of giving included the CAA of Columbiana County, Children of the Village, Clip Joint Wrappers, Lisbon Area Chamber of Commerce, Lisbon Assembly of God , Lisbon First United Methodist Church, Lisbon Lions Club, Lisbon Salvation Army Unit , Lisbon Schools, New Lisbon Presbyterian Church, Serenity’s Way Under Wraps, Smith Oil, VFW Post 4111 and West Point Lions.