By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Reno County District Attorney Tom Stanton notes that Toys for Tots in 2020 forced them to be creative and it worked.
"Because of the lockdown and the social distancing and all that went with it, we were forced to think a little outside the box," Stanton said. "Last year, we expanded to different stations around the county and that worked well. We had a competition between the Hutchinson Police Department and the Reno County Sheriff's Office to see which of those departments could bring in the most toys and we had a drive through event that brought in quite a few toys and we're going to do all those things again this year."
If you live in the Hutchinson area, you're probably not far from a box where you can drop off a new, unwrapped toy for a child.
"We will have boxes at the Public Works Department, we will have boxes in the Annex for anyone who might be coming in for their tags and wants to bring a toy along," Stanton said. "We have boxes at the Department of Aging, we have a box outside of Human Resources on the first floor of the county courthouse and of course, we'll have boxes up in my office on the fifth floor of the courthouse."
That's in addition to the boxes for the Sheriff's office and the Police Department. There will also be a drive through event on Saturday, December 11th.
"From 10 a.m. to noon, we'll be having a drive-by on the steps of the courthouse at 1st and Adams and you just drive by and drop off your toy and we'll give you a little reward for doing that," Stanton said. "If you want to support the children of this community, all the toys that we collect stay right here in Reno County."
Once the toys are collected, they are distributed to non-profit organizations with a need.
The local group also gets supplemental toys in from the Toys for Tots Foundation, to help out if they run short of toys or don't have the monetary means of purchasing them.
They especially need toys for older teenage kids as they are often forgotten at Christmastime.