FAIRMONT — The Marion County Christmas Toy Shop will be more like a drive thru than an actual toy store this year due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the threat it poses to public health.
Members and volunteers of the organizational committee met Wednesday to plan for the November Christmas gift distribution event, and decided it would be best that volunteers bag up the purchased toys ahead of time, so beneficiaries of the event would not have to make physical contact with a bunch of plastic items, and instead just pick up a bag.
“What we changed it to is we’ll give the person a bag of toys,” said Butch Tennant, lead organizer of the Christmas Toy Shop. “On the paperwork it says ‘Girl, age 9,’ or ‘Boy, age 5.’ We’ll try to match toys to the person if it’s a boy or a girl. We’ll just try to match the toys with the kid.”
The Christmas Toy Shop is in its 12th year, but this could be the most difficult one to plan because of the coronavirus pandemic. The distribution has always been held on Black Friday at the Marion County Election Center, but this year could be an issue because several chain stores have announced they will not open on Thanksgiving or Black Friday, when a bulk of the shopping is done by the volunteers.
“I think we just need to change the policy we’re doing and the date might be a good idea,” Tennant said. “What we ought to do is plan on doing it on Black Friday but have an alternate date just in case.”
The volunteers who are part of the Christmas Toy Shop agreed they would be ready to make adjustments to the plan as time goes on. The next meeting of the group will be at noon on Aug. 26 in the Al Babcock room of the J. Harper Meredith Building.
Donations can be made out to the Christmas Toy Shop, and mailed to 924 Sylvan Ave., Fairmont, WV 26554.
