Sixth annual Ellis County Toy Drive a success

Submitted photo.

ELLIS COUNTY — The 40-plus children currently in care at the Texas Baptist Home for Children squealed with delight as Santa Claus made his appearance late Tuesday afternoon on the Waxahachie Fire Department’s vintage fire engine.

Accompanied by members of the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff’s Office Explorers, Waxahachie Police Department and Texas Department of Public Safety, Santa Claus and his Lead Elf led the children and their foster parents into the home’s gymnasium, where a festively decorated Christmas tree awaited – along with gift bags filled with presents for each of the young recipients.

After welcoming the children to the holiday party, Sheriff’s Chaplain Bruce Stayments led them in prayer: “Father, thank you for this time together. Thank you for all of these kids who are here today and for the adults who are taking care of them. Thank you for the deputies, police officers and troopers who’ve worked together to make this day possible.”

Following the distribution of the individualized gift bags, the children were served a meal of soda, pizza and desserts, and each had plenty of time to visit with Santa and the law enforcement personnel on hand during the party.

“This is a wonderful, wonderful thing,” said Eddie Marsh, president of the Texas Baptist Home. “All of this was initiated by law enforcement and it’s good in two ways: It benefits our kids and it also helps as far as them relating to law enforcement in a positive way.

“They’re doing a great thing for our kids and it’s very much appreciated,” Marsh said. “It’s neat to see all of the smiles and excitement from the kids.”

Tuesday marked the first stop for the 2015 Ellis County Toy Drive, which wrapped up Thursday afternoon with a similar party at the Presbyterian Children’s Home, where about 60 children enjoyed their opportunity to visit with Santa, his Elf and all of his law enforcement helpers.

Presbyterian program director Kyle Mitchell said he appreciated how the toy drive and pizza party give the children an opportunity to meet and visit with law enforcement personnel. “The kids have been coming up to me and talking about how cool it is to talk to the officers here,” he said. “It’s a win-win long term because the kids are understanding that the officers are here to help them and do good things in their lives. That personal contact with law enforcement is great for them.

“Also, a lot of times these kids feel forgotten and this says, ‘Hey, the community did this for you,’ ” he said. “ ’It’s because you matter. You’re important. You’re remembered.’ I appreciate the officers and community giving to these kids. Holidays are hard, but these are moments that help them get through everything.”

As of Thursday afternoon’s pizza party, just under 100 children between both homes had been served by the toy drive, which will also ensure that any other children taken into care this holiday season have Christmas presents.

“Ninety-five percent of these kids got all of their three wishes met – and 100-percent of them got more than what they had asked for,” said Deputy Jeff Prater. “There aren’t any of these bags that aren’t full of presents.”

This is the sixth year for the toy drive, which started as a county employee-driven effort organized by the Sheriff’s Office. It has since grown to include multiple agencies working together to benefit these children in need.

“We were thrilled to partner up with the Sheriff’s Office in this,” Waxahachie Police Chief Wade Goolsby said. “It’s such a great cause and seeing all of the smiles makes it all worthwhile.”

For DPS Sr. Cpl. James Colunga, the annual event holds special meaning.

“I’m adopted,” he said. “I could have been one of the kids here.” Colunga also noted how the toy drive represents a joint effort between the many county employees who donated and the many Ellis County residents who stopped by to drop off boxes of toys at tents set up outside of the local Walmart stores on Black Friday.

“You know we enjoy doing this when we’re already thinking about next year’s toy drive and how to make it even better,” Colunga said.

“Everything” about the toy drive is what makes it worthwhile, Sheriff Johnny Brown said. “Helping these kids out is what it’s all about.

“We’re showing them encouragement from law enforcement,” Brown added. “A lot of these kids have only seen the negative side of law enforcement. We want them to know they can come to us anytime.”

Besides extending his appreciation to all of the county employees and community members who contributed to the toy drive, Brown said he wanted to recognize Constable Terry Nay for hosting a Halloween party that benefited the toy drive, and also thank local businesses Amerigrafix, Best Buy, Brookshires-Midlothian, Cici’s Pizza, Dart Container, Walmart-Ennis, Walmart-Midlothian and Walmart-Waxahachie for their contributions.