Dec. 25 -- JAMESTOWN -- Businesses, organizations and agencies have spread Christmas cheer by collecting toys and other items for children in the Jamestown area.
Efforts in the Jamestown area include the local first responders toy drive, Salvation Army's Angel Tree, Toys for Tots and Rock Solid Chiropractic's Giving Tree among others.
Local first responders collected 226 toys through donations and $1,023 in cash donations that they used to purchase more toys on Dec. 14 at Walmart, said Casey Fetch, a trooper with the North Dakota Highway Patrol who organized the event. After purchasing more items, first responders collected a total of 311 toys.
"I can't say enough about the people that came and donated," he said. "To see the community come out and just constantly drop off toys all day long, it was just a huge show of support. So we're very thankful for that."
Fetch said local agencies that participated in the toy drive also included the Jamestown Police Department, Stutsman County Sheriff's Office, Jamestown Fire Department, Jamestown Rural Fire Department, North Dakota Parole and Probation, North Dakota Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Jamestown Area Ambulance.
"This is our community. We live here, we work here, we're all one together," Fetch said. "So for us to be able to come together and do something like this for the community that supports us so much as they do, it's really It's nothing for us to do this. It's just as important for us to do it, and we're happy to do it."
Fetch said he worked with Gussner Elementary School Principal Luke Anderson to identify families for the toys. Those families were able to pick out items on Friday, Dec. 20, at the Jamestown Fire Department.
Buffalo Bridges Human Service Zone picked up the leftover toys.
Buffalo Bridges Human Service Zone helps businesses and organizations find children in need of gifts during the holiday season, according to Kayla Grounds, parent aid at the agency.
Grounds said Buffalo Bridges has helped with "Christmas in July" gifts, Toys for Tots, Cops & Kids and tags for Rock Solid Chiropractic's and Ameriprise Financial's giving trees.
"There is a lot of businesses that stay involved, and it's great that they want to help out the kiddos in our agency," she said.
Grounds said Buffalo Bridges gathered a list of items for children the agency has in its custody or in an in-home safety plan with parents and distributed that to Rock Solid Chiropractic.
"It really is for the children but it is for the parents as well because we want them to feel like they're still providing something for their child even if they are going through something hard during this Christmas season," Grounds said. " ... It is the parents and foster parents that do a great job of kind of letting us know what is needed."
Rock Solid Chiropractic's clients took tags from the business' giving tree and returned them with toys and clothing for infants to teenagers, said Kayla Gilbertson, certified clinical chiropractic assistant who organized the giving tree. She said Rock Solid Chiropractic collected about 90 presents for 38 children.
Gilbertson said Rock Solid Chiropractic has been in business for less than two years and employees couldn't find Angel Tree tags because those were distributed to other businesses. She said she reached out to Buffalo Bridges Human Service Zone, which helped provide the list of children needing extra presents for Christmas.
Last year, Rock Solid Chiropractic got gifts for 20 children.
"We really like to give back to the community," Gilbertson said. "Christmas time is the best time for sure for giving."
The Salvation Army collected items for 250 Angel Tree tags at 10 locations this year, according to Dan Furry, divisional public relations and communications director for the Salvation Army.
"All 250 tags were returned to us with gifts," Furry said.
Items purchased and brought to the Salvation Army for the Angel Tree Program included baby toys, LEGO sets, Squishmallows, a bicycle, hygiene products and gift cards, he said. Those items were distributed on Dec. 17 and Dec. 19, he said.
Furry said the Salvation Army signs up families for Angel Tree tags in October.
"Those with children get a food voucher and gifts for the kids, and those without children get a food voucher," he said.
Furry said the Salvation Army also running its regular programs such as grocery boxes from its food shelf, giving pet food and hygiene items when they are available, emergency rental and utility assistance and hotel vouchers.