NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County District Attorney Tom Stanton said his annual toy drive was a big success in 2024.
"We got a lot of toys on this drive," Stanton said. "We collected 819 toys, cash of $150.28. We had 126 hats, 2 scarves, 3 ear warmers, 5 blankets, and 2 pairs of socks. And so that, it was a total of 23 boxes. The most we'd ever had before was 20. And that was in 2020. And we had, it was, that was a COVID year, and we had drives out on the front steps to have people bring stuff by, and we were able to fill a lot of toys, a lot of boxes that year."
He's already looking ahead to 2025.
"Next year is the 25th anniversary, and we've already got plans," Stanton said. "We're going to make it even bigger and better next year, but this is by far the most successful toy drive we've had in the 24 years that we've been doing it, so I was very pleased. And Toys for Tots was extremely pleased as well. They had a hard time figuring out how they were going to get all the boxes out of the courthouse and delivered. That was something that was really good. My staff really enjoys doing that, and it's just a fun thing to do."
There were boxes in more locations this year, including in all of the Heartland Credit Union branches.