By Arthur Foulkes
SULLIVAN — Sullivan County firefighters and the U.S. Marine Corps are making sure more than 1,000 Wabash Valley kids have a merry Christmas again this year.
The Toys for Tots campaign is expected to provide toys for nearly 1,300 Sullivan County children, a campaign official said Thursday.
“It’s up again this year,” said Roberta Russell, Marine Corps Toys for Tots campaign coordinator for Sullivan County. “I look forward to the day our numbers” aren’t higher, she said.
Last year, 1,263 Sullivan County children received toys, books and stocking gifts from the Toys for Tots campaign, Russell said. That was up from 1,230 the year before.
Russell has been running the Sullivan County Toys for Tots campaign for the past seven years. In her first year, the program served 153 children, she said.
Individuals, businesses, schools and churches work together each year to provide toys for needy kids, Russell said. In all, the campaign will raise about $17,000 this year, not including toys donated anonymously at dozens of toy boxes around the county. About one-third of all of the toys come from the toy boxes, she said.
Sullivan County firefighters, who help the effort all year, are getting into the act again with a “boot campaign” between 10 a.m. and noon Saturday morning. Firefighters will be standing on street corners around the county asking for donations. Last year, the firefighters raised more than $3,000 for the cause in just two hours, Russell said. Also this year, the Sunrise coal mine in Carlisle raised $3,700 for Toys for Tots, she said.
Monday and Tuesday will be Toys for Tots “distribution” days, Russell said. Parents of pre-registered kids will shop for toys at the Dugger Community Building in Dugger Park. All applications to participate in the program have been distributed. However, walk-ins will be given a chance to apply at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday evening at the Dugger Community Building, Russell said.
In addition to the firefighters’ boot campaign Saturday, a Toys for Tots event is scheduled for tonight at Blondie’s Eagle Inn in Hymera and Saturday evening at the Moose Lodge in Sullivan. Toy donations will be accepted at both events.
Once a single mother with two young children, Russell knows the difficulty of providing Christmas gifts to kids on Christmas morning, she said.
“Christmas was always an issue” during those years when her kids were young, she recalled. “I guess that’s why this program has my heart.”
Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
