Christmas cheer accompanies toy giveaway

In one way, having more children than ever in need of toys made City Outreach Ministry's job a little easier.

"This is the first year we had to split the group," said Jonathan Horn, son of Scott Horn, the group's pastor. "It went a lot smoother."

More than 1,100 children were signed up for this year's Christmas giveaway, said Scott. By the time they removed the names of those who had received gifts from other agencies such as church giveaways or Toys for Tots, there were still about 800 children at the Saturday event.

"It would help if we all worked together," Mikelle Horn, Scott's wife, said, referring to the help agencies in the area who provide assistance with toys and meals at Christmas.

"We had 400 children in this morning and we'll have another 400 at 2," he said. "There's a lot more than before and a lot we haven't ever seen before, folks we never thought we'd see down here."

Of course, having more children in need than before also created problems for the ministry. Up until Saturday, Scott and Mikelle worried that there would not be enough toys and food boxes to go around.

"She still thinks we don't have enough toys," the pastor grinned and nodded at his wife. "She never thinks we have enough toys for the kids. But people really came through for them."

Some toys left over from another toy drive were donated the day before to help the cause along.

With the help of the local American Legion, the ministry also had about 300 food boxes, three hundred turkeys, and about 600 chickens that were donated by Tyson.

"We used to do this on our own, but about six years ago, (then-)mayor Geneva Smith hooked us up with Scott," said Roy Bartlette, commander of the local legion post. "Now, with an assembly line, we can get the boxes packed in a few hours. We delivered 150 boxes this morning."

City Outreach's event has grown and more and more people show up every year -- not just to receive, but to give. Local dignitaries and businessmen, such as Judge Lee Russell and County Circuit Court Clerk Thomas Smith and Keith and Sheri Heflin are joined by more volunteers each year. They come from the host ministry itself, from other churches, or just around town.

"This is our first year," said Dawn Segroves, wife of Harold Segroves. "Harold has long been involved and this year. We decided the was our gift to each other," she said. "We thought this was a good year to remember others more."

Their daughter, Holly, was home for a visit and roped into helping, but she didn't mind one bit. She got to hand out armloads of stuffed animals to the children.

'"I love it!" she said. "This is awesome. I've always loved doing stuff like this."

"It's been fun," said Dawn. "I love watching the kids leave, carrying their bags and pushing their bicycles and tickled to death!"