Lions Club gives away toys

The Durant Lions Club gave away toys Saturday at the Bryan County Fairgrounds during its annual Toys for Tots/Lions Toy Box program to provide Christmas gifts to local children.

Brian Bond, the Bryan County Toys for Tots coordinator, said the Lions work in conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves Toys for Tots.

Bond was excited about the turnout and the number of donations when the toys were given out Saturday.

He said about 900 people had signed up for the giveaway at the library and more than a 100 signed up through area schools.

“I think we’re at 1,037 kiddos is what we pre-signed up,” Bond said. “We don’t turn anybody away. After the ones who didn’t get signed up, at 11 o’clock, we let them come through and get a toy and we’ll go until the toys are out.”

According to Bond, a little more than $19,000 was spent during shopping day Dec. 13 at Walmart.

“Our collections this year have been good,” he said. “We had a lot of toys dropped off throughout the community. Our boxes were full and we had a lot of big donors from different groups. I had an individual that brought four giant Walmart boxes in and an elderly couple that bought one or two toys a month all year long. They saved them up and just brought them and dropped them off. We‘ve got a lot of good people in the community like that. Even with hard times and the economy like it is, the Bryan County people still come through and help us out.”

The fifth Okie Christmas Toy Run Dec. 10 raised $30,000 for the program and those funds will be used next year to make the giveaway even bigger.

“Of course, I can’t go without commenting on the ladies from Okie Toy Run,” Bond said. “Man, they did a phenomenal job which folks that don’t realize, the funds that we spent this year were raised last year. So the money that we spent this year, they raised last year through the toy run and through donations and different things we do throughout the year.”

Bond is hoping to provide more expensive gifts next year through the Lions Club.

“Toys for Tots restricts us on what we can spend,” he said. “We cannot expend over $30 so we’re trying to figure out a way to make that where we can get a little bit better quality toys. “When we did our shopping day, we spent probably four or five thousand dollars more than we ever have at Walmart and I was really concerned because we had a large enclosed trailer. Years in the past, we spent twelve or thirteen thousand dollars that had that trailer full, and then had to put boxes in a pickup.

“This year, we spent over $19,000 and the trailer was about three-fourths full. So, the dollar just doesn’t go as far as it has in the last few years and really, really this year, I noticed it way more than before. But we feel like we’ve got a great selection, a lot of good toys out there and I think we’re going to touch a lot of kiddos.”

The Lions Club has had the toy giveaway program for 20plus years.

Bond again praised local motorcyclists who organized the toy run as being a big benefit for Toys for Tots.

Holly Means is the founder and president of the Okie Christmas Toy Run. Lori Townsend Reid is vice president and Lisa Townsend is the secretary-treasurer.

“It’s pretty impressive what those ladies are doing,” Bond said. “It changes our game. Every year when I shop, I have to stand there and look at the totals and I have to stress whether we have the money and then sometimes, I have to put stuff back if we don’t have the money.

“This year, we actually had about 10 buggies that were full that we had to put back. Next year, we won’t have to worry about that. We’re going to be able to blow through there, get everything that we need and then some, and not have to worry a bit. They changed the game, for sure.”