Santa Claus made an early delivery of gifts on Monday to Cleveland Elementary School, with the assistance of the Lawton Fire Department.
Sgt. William Baxter, with Fire Station No. 2, delivered a 12×7-foot trailer full of toys to the school. The items had been donated to Lawton Fire Department’s Christmas for Kids program in past years but were still wrapped in cellophane.
“Over the years, we had slowly gotten a surplus of toys,” Baxter said. The toys were put into storage, but the storage shed had gotten full. “We wanted to be good stewards of donations given to us. We had worked with Lawton Public Schools in the past so we had the idea to call and see where the need was.”
Baxter was directed to Cleveland.
“We knew you guys would get the toys where they needed to go,” Baxter said.
And getting the toys where they need to go is the next chore for Cleveland Principal Ella Snavely and her staff. Boxes and bags full of toys were unloaded from the trailer and put in a workroom.
“I have no idea what is in here,” Snavely said as she surveyed the accumulation of donations. Some of “what is in here” includes a football, a baseball and bat, stuffed toys, dolls, doll houses, table games for families and cars of all shapes and sizes for every age of child. A few dinosaurs were seen poking their heads out of some of the sacks as well.
Snavely said the goal is to get things sorted so students can pick out a toy or two before they go on Winter Break on Thursday.
“These babies will be so happy when they come in and get to pick something. Now they can get something for themselves or a sibling. It looks like we have things for all ages,” she said as she dug through a sack full of items.
Snavely said the school is happy to help the 330 students’ families with their Christmas shopping.
“Any way we can help our families take some of the pressure off,” she said. “The bills continue to come in. Christmas is not all about presents, but this is a special time for families. We want our kiddos to get gifts. We want to help out.
“They’ve been donated and now we get to give them a good home,” Snavely said.
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