Christmas is the time of year for giving back to the community. For the past 5+ years, I've been working with my brokerage to provide Christmas toys to the children of a community that would otherwise not reveive a toy at Christmas.
There are approximately 800 children in the community of Poplar. The project is called Poplar Santa. The project started many years ago, when a gentleman living in Poplar realized that many children in the area were going without Christmas gifts, so he started dressing as Santa and he and his wife would purchase gifts and wrap one for each child. At the time, there were only about 100 children. Over the years he has started working with a wood working group and some farmers to give the children a wooden toy and a piece of fruit. Due to the large number of children, ranging from babies to 15 - there are so many children that he can no longer afford to keep giving the toys and was going to stop dressing up as santa. That's when we offered to take on the job of donating the toys.
Each year, we collect new toys, wrap them by gender and age, dress up as elves and help Santa hand out the gifts to each child. There is nothing that warms my heart more than seeing the faces of the children that line up on Christmas Eve to receive a gift that we have given. These children stand in line patiently waiting for their wrapped toy, a handmade wood toy and a piece of fruit.
The picture I have included shows just a few of the gifts I purchase for the project annually, and the great folks at Walgreens that helped me get everything to the car. I've learned that Walgreens offers great discounts on toys, if you buy 2, you get one for free.
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