Rusty Mac “Adopt a Teen” program kicks off

JACKSON, Tenn. — Christmas is right around the corner, and that means you have a chance to help a child this holiday season.

The Exchange Club-Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse is holding their annual Rusty Mac Adopt a Teen program, which will last through the Christmas season.

The program was started in 1997 by Rusty Mac with the vision of providing gifts at Christmas for teenagers. Conrad Delaney called them “the forgotten ones.”

In 2004, Rusty Mac died, but the tradition lived on through Delaney and Rita McCaslin.

In 2018, Delaney died, and a plan was put in place to expand the program to help teens all year, specifically with school supplies, clothes, and school activities. That part of the program, which Delaney and Rita McCaslin discussed over the years with the Carl Perkins Center, will now be called “Conrad’s Good Deeds.”

More than 557 teenagers have submitted their Christmas wish lists for 2019, and the Carl Perkins Center is now asking for participants to help make those dreams come true.

Anyone who would like to be involved in the Adopt A Teen program is asked to call Keliea McCartney at (731) 668-4000, or visit the Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse.