‘So incredibly honored’: Powhatan’s newest Christmas Mother secures keys to new location

POWHATAN COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- The Powhatan Christmas Mother got the keys to a new home this week. The completely volunteer-based organization used to work out of the Pocahontas Landmark Center on Anderson Highway, but moved as debate on partially demolishing it continues.

The Christmas Mother has been a staple in the community since 1967, ensuring the elderly and families in need have food and clothing through the holiday season, even through COVID. Amien Dulio is the county’s 58^th Christmas Mother.

Now Dulio is making the new space, also on Anderson Highway, like Santa’s workshop.

“Our clients are...nervous of the fact that we...haven’t had a home, so they were afraid that it wasn’t going to happen this year and a lot of people count on that," she said.

Dulio grew up in Powhatan. She and her high school sweetheart raised their two daughters there.

She was introduced to the Christmas Mother in high school when her grandmother, Marie “Good” Brown, was 1989’s Christmas Mother. As a teenager, Dulio was a shopper for Brown, picking out items for the families. She plans to have her daughters help out in the same way.

“It was like the North Pole on steroids," Dulio said. “I appreciate it a whole lot more now, and just so many grateful, grateful hearts.” 

Her co-worker, 2023’s Christmas Mother Suzanne Cline, nominated her for the role. It was then decided by the current Christmas Mother and the other board members.

“I was definitely in shock but so incredibly honored, so incredibly honored," Dulio said.

While they’re waiting on small renovations to officially move into the new space, the vision is already coming to life.

“There’s a place for the bikes, there’s a place for the shoppers to go and do their wrapping or to, you know, fill the stockings," she said.

The Christmas Mother is a need-based organization, making sure families are fed through the holidays by giving gift cards to grocery stores, but also making sure the children have gifts to unwrap on Christmas morning. 

“They want blankets and socks and underwear, and we had folks last year who, you know, their heat wasn’t working," Dulio told 8News. “We try to ... get them things that they want so that they have a nice Christmas, not just what they need.”

They host several fundraising events throughout the year, including donations from the Powhatan Christmas Parade and a first-ever pickleball tournament on Nov. 8, hosted by the Village Concepts Realty Group. Participants can register here.

Dulio is leaning on the mothers of Christmas past. 

“There’s so many past Christmas Mothers in the committee still that are still volunteering, and they all have something to give," she said. "They all have something -- experience -- to share and, you know, I go off of that ... I lean on them all the time.”

In Dulio's professional life, she's a real estate agent for Village Concepts Realty Group. She said that, luckily, it's a flexible job, which she thinks will be very beneficial in the heavy holiday season.

Applications to be a Christmas Mother client begin Oct. 1.