By Staff
Volunteers sort and select toys to give area children
Staff reports
For the first time in Beaufort County, toys raised by the Toys for Tots campaign are being distributed to Beaufort County children, according to volunteers who are helping disperse the toys.
The distribution of toys to about 720 children began Sunday at Washington’s St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, according to Nancy Hamblin, one of the volunteers. It ends today.
Shortly after noon Sunday, parents of children who will receive the toys arrived to sign in and receive the toys. Inside the church fellowship hall, volunteers took slips of paper that contained information — ages and gender — about the children receiving the toys. Toys were sorted into groups, according to age and gender. The parents picking up the toys were not allowed inside the fellowship hall. They waited outside for their allotment of toys to be delivered to them by a volunteer.
Among the toys were about 72 bicycles, giving one area of the fellowship hall the look of a bicycle shop.
While Rodman was selecting toys for delivery to the waiting parents, Maynard Hamblin was splitting his time between sorting a truckload of donated toys that had been delivered about 12:30 p.m. and selecting toys for children. The Rev. Kevin Johnson, rector of St. Peter’s, split his time between unloading toys and sorting them once they were inside the fellowship hall.
About 20 volunteers were expected to help sort and distribute the toys during the three-day distribution period, Nancy Hamblin said.