Gerald Anderson of the Bill Pickett Educational Foundation said “every kid should have a gift to open on Christmas.”
The Bill Pickett Educational Foundation is trying to ensure that this Christmas season is merry for every child and teenager in the Taylor area.
The foundation is preparing to host its annual Operation Christmas Toy Drive, which it has done for the past 10 years.
“It’s a drive to help people supplement their Christmas,” Anderson said. “We don’t provide the whole Christmas like a Blue Santa or Red Santa. What we do is offer supplemental gifts to help make Christmas a little more merrier so parents can focus on the bigger ticket items for their children.”
The group typically will begin taking donations of gifts the first weekend of December, which is this weekend. Anderson said the drive will last until about Dec. 20 or Dec. 21.
The foundation has partnered with multiple sponsors to act as donation posts. This year, the Taylor Press, Second Street Station, Mixtape and other businesses will be collecting toys at their locations. Taylor Independent School District is partnering with the toy drive as well.
The Taylor Press will serve as a toy drop-off location for the Operation Christmas Toy Drive. Items placed inside the gift-wrapped box in our office will be donated to the toy drive. Photo by Hunter Dworaczyk
Anderson said the toy drive served about 70 to 80 kids when it originally started. This year, the group expects to provide gifts to almost 500 kids.
“We appreciate all of our sponsors and everybody who makes it happen,” Anderson said. “They get some pretty nice gifts.” Money raised for the toy drive typically goes into buying gifts that teenagers would enjoy, he said. Anderson said someone wanting to provide funds should instead consider donating a gift card or hoodie so teenagers have something to unwrap.
The group selects which people receive the collected toys by whoever asks to sign up online or by word of mouth.
Anderson said nobody is turned away. He said the group will not ask intrusive questions to determine if a child should receive a gift.
“We hope people go on the honor system and they don’t double-dip, going to two or three different toy drives,” Anderson said. “But our attitude with that is that the worst thing that can happen is a kid gets a lot of gifts on Christmas. What’s the problem with a kid getting too many toys on Christmas? I don’t see that as being an issue.”
Besides organizing the toy drive, the Bill Pickett Educational Foundation’s primary function is to keep the history legacy of Bill Pickett alive.
The nonprofit also will provide tickets to children to attend The Nutcracker ballet in Austin as part of its Night in the Community program.
