For roughly 15 years, the Athens County Sheriff’s Office has hosted the Joy of Toys event, which provides donated gifts and meals for underprivileged children around Athens.
The event will be held once again on Dec. 18 at Walmart, 929 E. State St., at the Lawn and Garden center. The times will vary based on the different school districts. The Drug Abuse Resistance Education, or D.A.R.E., and the Seniors and Law Enforcement Together, or S.A.L.T., programs will be working together for the event.
The sheriff’s office is still accepting donations for the event which can be dropped off at the sheriff’s office, 13 W. Washington St., or if paying with a check donation, it can be sent to Deputy Sheriff Jayson White.
“We've been going around looking for donations and as much help as we can from the community whether it's toy donations or monetary donations to help provide for all the needy families for Christmas this year for people less fortunate that want to provide nice toys for their kids,” White said.
Sheriff Rodney Smith explained that the children are selected across various school districts around Athens and their gifts are selected to accommodate their needs.
“We have a school resource officer, we pick out children that are in need (and) we want to try to help them have a good Christmas,” Smith said. “Some of the kids just don't have a chance; they just are underprivileged. And we just want to make sure as many kids as we can help have a good Christmas, a good day (and) a good meal.”
On Dec. 18, each district will meet at Walmart at their respective time to pick up their gifts. Additionally, there will be a spaghetti dinner provided by Texas Roadhouse for the kids to enjoy.
Prior to the event, there will be several stations set up at different businesses around Athens for donations to be collected.
“We have a lot of different businesses, they just have boxes to put toys in,” Smith said. “So there’s one at Walmart, there’s one at Menards (and) Edward Jones and just different stores around the county. And a lot of them are just giving us toys. And we have a storage container that's supplied by Walmart. And whenever we get the toys, we just go empty them out once a day, we put them in our storage container.”
In addition to the physical donations, there was also a Chili Cook-off event on Dec. 4, where the proceeds will go toward the Joy of Toys event.
Through hosting these fundraising events and collecting the donations, White said it is important that these families get the opportunity to celebrate over the holidays with one another and allow the children to have presents to open for Christmas.
“This is that time of year where it's more important to give than to receive and a lot of the kids in the county that don't have much and then the parents can’t provide much for them, they want to provide fun toys for their kids and just make them feel like they're special and that they’re wanted,” White said.
Brynne Morris, who works in administration at the sheriff’s office, said the day is very important for the kids, as they are not only able to have gifts and a meal, but also able to connect with members of their community.
“The kids are really grateful,” Morris said. “It's a really exciting day for them to come and get fed and have our attention for the day and really positive interaction with law enforcement. I think that's good for the kids.”
Through his time in his position, Smith said it is important to him that efforts like the ones made through Joy of Toys are made throughout the year to enrich the lives of the underprivileged in the Athens area.
“What I've tried to do since I became sheriff is to reach out to the community,” Smith said. “And I've always thought that community policing was the best way to go. We need to ... not only enforce the law, we’ve got to look at the quality of life for people. I think the more we're out in the community, the more we reach out and help people and try to improve the quality of life and every aspect, is just a win for us and the community.”
