Overton Sheriff’s Department Hosting Toy Drive

The Overton County Sheriff’s Department hosting a Toy Drive to provide children in need with their own Merry Christmas.

Chief Deputy Tim Poore said the department has placed boxes at local stores throughout the county where citizens can donate toys. Poore said the department’s officers are exposed to the families in need throughout the county.

“It gives the children a little bit different perspective of law enforcement,” Poore said. “Not just seeing us as enforcing the laws, but also as that friendly person that’s handing out the toys, getting them something for Christmas. Most of them will know that this is where it’s came from.”

Poore said people can donate new toys or money so the department can purchase extra toys, clothing, and baby supplies for families. Poore said there is no preference for what kinds of toys should be donated as long as the items are in their original packaging.

“Some kids may not even have a Christmas if it wasn’t for this toy drive,” Poore said. “So we feel that it’s just our way of giving back.”

Poore said the department will be accepting donations until a couple of weeks before Christmas. Poore said the remaining time will be used to solidify the list of families in need and sort the donations accordingly.

“We’ve been helping, I’d have to go back and look but it’s numerous families,” Poore said. “It’s up in several families every year that we get toys for.”

Poore said families can apply to receive items from the toy drive through the department. Poore said applicants will have to provide a letter of need detailing how many children are in the family, their ages, and the kind of things they want.

“A lot of it is clothing,” Poore said. “We do buy clothing for them. The majority of it is toys, but we have had several that are clothing items. We’ve even purchased diapers and wipes and stuff like that.”

Poore said the department has done the drive every year for at least a decade.