“We had a great turnout today,” said Becky Johns, Project 25’s coordinator. “Every little bit helps, and we have a lot of kids in need this year and every year.”
The drive brought in about 100 toys that will go to local children on Christmas. Project 25’s goal is to help 400 to 500 children this year.
Harley-Davidson and members of
In the past, the charity had communicated with local schools to identify families that need help to provide Christmas for their children.
This year will be a little different.
“Our deputies are actually picking our kids this year,” Johns said. “They’re the ones that actually see it firsthand.”
Deputies meet families in need on a daily basis when they’re out cruising the community and responding to calls. Johns said deputies love the idea of giving back to specific families they meet in the line of duty.
“These are people that are middle class and down on their luck,” Johns said.
In its 34th year, Project 25 is able to help families just like the first year.
Johns said the program started in the early 1980s after two deputies went to a home that had been burglarized, leaving the family without money to get Christmas presents for their children. The deputies pooled their own cash to help out the family, and the act caught on in a big way.
“The following year it was 10 kids and then went on to thousands over time,” Johns said.
Johns remembers the drive helping a couple of hundred kids a year when she started with Project 25 in 1986. Three decades later, that simple gesture by deputies is still going strong.
“Project 25 is very dear to my heart,” she said.
Rick Catalano dropped a few puzzles into the donation box at Blacker Saturday.
“It’s always important to give to a charity,” he said. “Comfortability is the whole meaning of life. When you’re up there, you help others get up.”