Morgan County teachers help with Toys for Tots
Morgan County School System’s administrators, teachers and support personnel contributed more than 1,500 toys to the Huntsville area Toys for Tots Christmas project this year.
Sponsored for the second straight year by the Morgan County Education Association, the toys were collected at the media resource center in Decatur and transported to a toy distribution center in Huntsville by Marine Corps personnel Sgt. Jeffrey Berghammer and Cpl. Charles Burton on Nov. 8. They filled 16 large Toys for Tots donation boxes and several smaller boxes. Four bicycles were included.
“We collected 817 toys last year and this year’s total is probably double that,” said MCEA President Della Carmen. “We’ve been collecting at each school for about a month and we’re thrilled with the support the project has received.
“We were going to have a Christmas party of our own a couple of years ago but instead decided to give it up and help Toys for Tots,” she explained. “Vocational students at Brewer got involved by collecting old bicycles and refurbishing them in their own workshop. This year, Lacey’s Spring School filled a Toys for Tots box with stocking stuffers and we also received a large number of gift items suitable for teenagers.”
“We think it’s awesome what you have done,” said Sergeant Berghammer. “The toys you have donated will bring smiles to the faces of a lot of kids at Christmastime. “
He pointed out that the Marine Corps attachment in Huntsville would distribute more than 7,500 toys to parents of needy children in a five-county North Alabama area December 15-18.
“Parents will receive a bag of toys for each child in the family” he stated. “Many of them will wait until Christmas day to give them to their children. “
“To see all of these toys and to know where they are going warms my heart and overwhelms me,” Carmen told a group of teachers and support personnel who worked with her on the project. Please go back to your schools and thank everybody who had a part in making this year’s project so successful.”
