ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The Christmas season will be here before everyone knows it, and the local Knights of Columbus chapter will be looking to help make the holidays brighter for some local families with its annual Toys For Tots campaign.
As Knight Sam Widener tells it, this year’s campaign will be slightly different.
“For this year, what we'll be doing instead of the motorcycle run – since participation's been down the past couple years – is a cornhole tournament, and that will be Saturday, Nov. 16 at the Knights of Columbus building at 323 N. Kansas Ave., and everything will get started at 5 p.m.,” Widener said. “All the proceeds will go toward our Toys For Tots campaign, and the people who participate will have the chance to win some prizes, which we're currently collecting from local businesses. That evening, we'll also be drawing for our gun raffle, which we've been doing for about 20 years now, and we'll be selling them right up until we do the actual drawing, and everyone's welcome to also take part in that. With the Monday night Bingo, we have a 50/50 pot where half the money goes to the winner and the other half goes to the Toys For Tots, and that weekly Bingo is one of our biggest fundraisers. This is our 35th year taking part in Toys For Tots, and we're happy to be part of such a great program that brings so much joy to so many people.”
Widener said he hopes to see a large turnout that evening.
“Anyone wanting to participate just needs to show up that afternoon and get signed up, there's no pre-registration or anything like that to be done,” Widener said. “If you've got that evening free, and if you're a cornhole aficionado, go ahead and come out that night and have some fun while also supporting a great cause. Everything will be starting at 5 p.m. that night, so I would recommend getting there a little early to sign up. I also have to mention National Beef because they also collect toys for Toys For Tots, and they typically get a fairly decent haul. People who want to donate toys can do so until Dec. 11, and they can just bring them by the Knights of Columbus building on Monday nights when we have Bingo. We'll then be delivering the toys Dec. 14 throughout the area, and the people who do that have their delivery map/system down pat at this point. With this being our first cornhole tournament, we're somewhat playing it by ear as far as the numbers and all of that, but we're really excited about it. We decided to do something a little different for this year because like I said earlier, the motorcycle run hasn't seen as much participation as we'd like for the past couple years. But we knew we wanted to still do our Toys For Tots campaign, and ultimately, we figured a cornhole tournament would be the best way. We don't know how much money we'll bring in, or what all donations we'll get, but we're really excited and hope to see as many people as possible there. We'll have food available and we'll be doing our raffle, so it should end up being a good time for everyone.”
Widener added he hopes to see a lot of toy donations to the campaign.
“We're at the Knights of Columbus building every Monday night for Bingo, so anyone who wants to bring their donations – and they can bring toys or money for us to buy the toys – can do so then. We'll take toys for boys and girls from newborn to 10 years old and then we'll sort them out a couple days before we make the deliveries,” Widener said. “The Toys For Tots campaign takes A LOT of time and work every year, and it's really busy for us and our volunteers, but the end result is always worth it. We enjoy knowing we're helping people in the community have a nicer Christmas than they might have had if not for the program. Applications for Toys For Tots will be at the Seward County Health Department and a couple other places in town, and they're pretty easy to fill out. It's always a good feeling after we make our deliveries and see the happy faces of the children receiving the toys.”
Overall, Widener said, he is looking forward to this year’s Toys For Tots campaign.
“We're really looking forward to this event, and we hope to see a lot of people from the community participating,” Widener said. “It should be a fun time for everyone while also supporting a great cause, and we're doing our part to help make the holidays a little brighter for some local families.”
