Teaming up to make the Holidays special for local children

The toys benefit children enrolled in the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Program.

 

“The best part about this year’s toy drive,” said a volunteer, “is that after we bought toys for all the children on our list, we had $190 left, so we went to Target and gifted strangers with holiday toys. One man kept saying, “Dude! I just came to get my niece a water bottle!” He couldn’t believe they were going to buy her gifts. “I told him that I chose him because he and his niece obviously cared so much for each other,” said the volunteer who was helping spend the additional money. “We bought his niece a Barbie set, a stuffed animal, Slime, an art kit and a board game.”

A woman had just put a toddler toy in her cart when the volunteer approached her. “She told me her 3-year-old son was born prematurely and had a very tough start to his life. She works, but she struggles. Fortunately, her son is 100 percent now. He likes trucks, so we filled her cart with a whole series of dump trucks, a fire truck, a camper and a train, which she’ll give him on Christmas morning. 

She cried in the checkout line. So did the cashier.