A Christmas Tale – Front Royal to Kentucky – over $25,000 in toys sent for Christmas!

To Kentucky with Love…

PROJECT: Christmas in Kentucky was a huge success!

We did it! The community of Warren County, surrounding areas, and friends & family from all over the country came together to help the children (and teens) of Kentucky have Christmas. As many of you are aware, there was a devastating tornado that ripped through parts of Western Kentucky on December 11. Homes, schools, churches, businesses were all destroyed. Families are left with nothing. A group from Warren County decided the children of Western Kentucky (Mayfield) WILL have toys for Christmas! Over $25,000 worth of toys were delivered Sunday, Dec 19th.

It all started with a phone call from Robert Hupman to Ellen Aders on Sunday morning. Hupman to Aders, “OK, what are we gonna do?” The two decided TOYS. By Sunday evening Jen Avery was put on the mission to spread the word in a BIG way to everyone who might be interested in saving Christmas for Kentucky kids! The three made a quick video and hit social media, newspapers, and the radio. Hupman dropped a trailer off at Aders Insurance Agency as the DROP SITE for new unwrapped toys. Monday morning, PROJECT: Christmas in Kentucky started receiving a steady stream of toy deliveries, the first at 7:30 am. Jen set up an Amazon gift list to make shopping easy by giving folks the option to ship directly to the drop site. Finally, cash was accepted, and the gang of elves would later shop to turn the cash into gifts. (Over 100 gift cards to Apple, Steam, Nintendo, and Google were sent by using the cash donations.)

Local Rotary clubs immediately jumped in to help support the efforts. The Rotary Club of Front Royal and the Rotary Club of Northern Shenandoah Valley: Area ONE/ders each offered a $500 toy match to challenge the community and other Rotary clubs. Those matches were hit within just the first two days! The Rotary Club of Warren County showed their support with over half of the club donating toys.

Because there was an Amazon gift list this project received support from all over. There were no limitations as long as the delivery date was before 5 pm Saturday night. We thank everyone who supported this project from the bottom of our hearts. However, we would like to take a minute for a few special shout-outs. A father/son team pulled up from Virginia Hills Church with a trailer full of donations. As the pair opened the back of the trailer…it was absolutely full, an amazing sight! Thank you! The Hope for Appalachia Virginia Team had two separate drops with gifts prepared like professionals. This crew gets a lot of practice every year because of the work they do in poverty-stricken Appalachia schools.. (If you don’t know about their work, check out this website: https://hfavateam.com.) Another huge thank you!

After a long week of collecting toys, Kahle Magalis (Front Royal Police Department – Chief of Police) was our shining star as he used sophisticated Tetris skills to stock the trailer with over 50 LARGE size packing boxes from Lowes. On top of the packing boxes, blankets, stuffed animals, and smaller boxes of toys were stacked. Robert Hupman, the toy delivery man, rolled up in his pickup truck Saturday afternoon. The packing elves (Jen Avery, Kahle Magalis, and helper Gordon), stuffed his back seat full of bags of toys and the bed of his pickup truck with food donations that had come in. There was only space for Robert to pick up his co-pilot Terrence Johnson!

Away the truck and trailer went at about 5:20 pm, Saturday night. Robert and TJ did a great job taking videos and pictures of their journey. The footage is in the video attached to this story and on this google album link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QadmSkKy2rubaiFx8. As the two approached Mayfield, Hupman recalls, “the destruction was emotional.” He explained the landscape looked ok at first, then they turned a corner and saw where the tornado had hit. He also remarked how random the destruction was in some parts. Five or six homes were torn to the foundation, then there would be one neighbor untouched. The tornado bent trees on their sides and broke mobile homes in half.

The two Santa helpers arrived at Mayfield Middle School on Sunday, Dec 19 at about 3 pm. A group referred to as the Cajun Navy helped unload all of the toys into the middle school music room. The plan is to hold these toys and distribute them carefully to families who need them. Hupman explained that the Cajun Navy was getting ready to cook for the people who had gathered for shelter at the middle school location. They are known for their delicious cajun-style food!

Next Terrence and Robert traveled to the Mayfield High School to drop off a food donation. There they met Mr. Rudy, the high school janitor, featured in one of the photos. Mr. Rudy went to the high school the night of the tornado and has not been home since. He has been working with Memphis Fire and Rescue volunteers who traveled out to help set up emergency relief stations. Hupman spoke of an older couple he saw come in after hours, Mr. Rudy allowed them to go to the station that had baby diapers. They obviously were trying to help a family with young children. This act of kindness tells us a lot about Mr. Rudy.

Christmas has been saved for a lot of children and teens because of PROJECT: Christmas in Kentucky. Please know YOU have made a difference. Hupman shared that he met people from 15 different states on his journey. A message Robert wanted us back home to realize, “helping your fellow brother or sister is still first and foremost.” We should feel good knowing that even with all the uncertainty in the world these days, people’s hearts are still in the right place. Robert and Terrence returned home to Warren County, Monday, Dec 20 about 6:30 pm

Please visit the event site (discussion tab) on Facebook to follow all of the posts created during the week of toy collections: https://fb.me/e/1xrrEuVVU

See this album for pictures and video: https://photos.app.goo.gl/QadmSkKy2rubaiFx8

PROJECT: Christmas In Kentucky