Seven years of hot chocolate calls for gallons and gallons of mix, and many hours of volunteering to make thousands of dollars for charity at Christmas.
Ryan Adams, who began holding the sale at age 9, is now a sophomore in high school where he is still the motivating factor of the Christmas hot chocolate sales, simply because he wants to help people.
Last year he and his team of volunteers, including his cousin Jewel Anvar, raised over $3000 for disadvantaged families.
This year, his goal is $3,500, and he and his six helpers started at 6 a.m. Friday in front of The Charter House, serving hot chocolate and coffee to people on their way to work. At 11 a.m. they had made  $2000, and were anticipating a good luncheon crowd to help reach their goal.
They operate from a snack trailer donated by Mike Harrell of Southwest Georgia Oil and A&S Rentals donated a generator and inflatable waving airman to attract customers.
Ryan said many of his customers are regulars who seek him out every year, but he also meets many new ones.
He prefers that those on the receiving end of his charity remain anonymous and that they not know where the gifts come from. This is easily accomplished through  Secret Santa donations, but there are also cases of families known to be experiencing hardships. One of those this year is the family of a small boy who is receiving treatments in Atlanta for leukemia. They will receive gift cards for gasoline.