Helping ensure Christmas cheer

Annette Tew knows what it’s like to get walnuts for Christmas, and little else.

Her father was a sharecropper in Echo. Walnuts, Brazil nuts, and maybe some fruit was about all Tew and her nine siblings could expect for Christmas. Christmas gifts were so rare that she still vividly remembers the doll her aunt gave her when she was 7.

“I know what it’s like to have nothing and everybody around you to have something,” she said.

That’s what motivates Tew’s year-long effort to accumulate gifts for Toys for Tots. It starts with the after-Christmas sales when she picks up a few discounted items. Over the course of the year, she picks up the occasional toy when she happens to be in a store.

Last week, when she brought her collection to Dothan, she had more than 60 items — a couple of tricycles, some books for toddlers, dump trucks, race cars, action figures.

And a lot of dolls.

“It’s just something I wanted to do to help kids have a good Christmas,” said Tew, who lives in Cottonwood. “It seems like everything today is ‘give me, give me, give me.’ If more people would just put an effort into giving to help somebody else, they would be blessed for it.”

Tew’s gifts help add to the local Toys for Tots effort. The Marine Corps League administers the program and collects gifts that will be distributed in Houston, Henry, Dale and Geneva counties. Last year, Toys for Tots collected gifts for 2,245 children.

This year, Mike Walton of the Marine Corps League said the slumping economy could increase the number of families in need of assistance.

“And, with the economy, it could affect the donations,” Walton said. “A lot of the things we are getting are a lot smaller, but something is better than nothing.”

So far this year, Toys for Tots has collected fewer than half the number of gifts it collected last year. Walton said there is still a great need for donations, especially for boys and girls ages 6-12.

Families with children 12 or younger with an income at or below the poverty level can qualify to receive gifts from Toys for Tots.

Families interested in applying for assistance or residents interested in donating toys are asked to call 211 for more information.

“Even if everyone would just give one thing, two things, that would make a huge difference,” Tew said.