MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Seven hundred children in Monongalia and Preston counties will now have plenty of presents under their Christmas trees.
The United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties teamed up with Christian Help, The Monongalia County Humane Society and the Mountaineer Food Bank on Thursday. The West Virginia National Guard Readiness Center hosted the 40th annual Holiday Toy and Food Distribution.
The drive-through service gave pre-registered parents bags full of toys loaded into the cars by volunteers. Families that didn’t register for the toy giveaway were still allowed to pick up food for their families and four-legged friends.
Organizers say the event really helps families have a normal, traditional Christmas.
“The focus and desire behind the event is to just simply allow people to celebrate in a normal fashion in the way that their neighbors and their friends and their kid’s friends at school do,” said Colleen Lankford, executive director at Christian Help. “So that it’s not an anomaly or it doesn’t break the bank for the family whenever they have to do something out of the ordinary.”
This is the first year the humane society helped with the event.
