Forgive Mike Ford if he shies away from the wrapping paper and tape for a while.
Ford, community resource officer with the Iola Police Department, put the proverbial bow on Project Care’s 2011 campaign.
The effort provided toys, clothes and other essentials to 60 local children in need.
Ford and a handful of other volunteers spent several hours Monday and Tuesday wrapping up the gifts for them to be retrieved through the day Tuesday.
The 60 children served is up from last year’s effort, which served 54 kids.
“Chief (Jared Warner) challenged us to do more this year, and we were up to the
challenge,” Ford said.
Project Care received hefty donations from local shoppers at Iola Walmart, who bought gifts and other essentials for 37 of the youngsters, as well as donors to KOAM TV’s Toy Box campaign in Pittsburg.
KOAM workers arrived last week with several sackloads of unwrapped toys.
Those items were used to fill the “want” lists of all 60 kids. Ford and the others then went about to get “needs.” Each child will get an outfit, plus other essentials, such as blankets or toothbrushes.
“When a child tells you they need a toothbrush, then you know they definitely need a toothbrush.”
The donations filled several tables in the basement meeting room at Iola City Hall. By the end of the day, only one table remained covered.
Those remaining donations will be used through the year by Project Care to give to children in need of care, or to displaced families.
“We’ll find uses for them,” he said.
Some may be stored until 2012, although Ford is typically hesitant to do so.
“People bring in these donations for us to use them, not store them,” he said.
The names of the 60 children were retrieved from Adopt-A-Child organizers to ensure nobody received gifts from both efforts, Ford said.
