I believe that giving back to the community is one of the most important things a person can do.
As a member of the G-County Hope Foundation, our goal is to reach children in our community and give them not only gifts for the holiday time, but to give them hope to know that they are our future.
Our foundation is a registered tax-exempt nonprofit established to serve the underprivileged citizens of Galveston County. It’s our mission through acts of caring, volunteering, donating and organizing events/drives to uplift and inspire the spirit of humanity and hope throughout our community. We strive to be the pillars that hold our community up.
When most people think of giving back, they think of monetary contributions. Although I believe that’s very important, there are many other ways we can give back to our community. Every community whether large or small has people who need to be reached by the love of others, and that’s something that successful people should be led to do.
This will be our eighth year doing our “Best Money Ever Spent Toy Drive Giveaway.” This year, we’re planning to reach 500 children; 250 boys and 250 girls. But we need your help.
Our toy drive differs from all other toy drives because we, as individuals and small-business owners, all come together and give a certain amount of our own earned money out of pocket and put it all together to order wholesale toys to give out to low-income areas in Galveston County.
The toy drive giveaway — children must be present — will be held Christmas Eve at the following locations:
• Noon — Sandpiper Cove, 3916 Winnie St. in Galveston (parking lot No. 2 across from Wright Cuney Recreation Center);
• 1 p.m. — Sanders/Vincent Community Center, 501 Fourth Ave. N. in Texas City; and
• 2 p.m. — Independent Missionary Village of Hitchcock, 6607 Prino Road in Hitchcock.
We’d also like to thank our sponsors for giving toward our event, too. Thanks to Carter 7 Grand Events & Memorable Moments Event Lounge (Carla Smith and Anthony Davis); G-County Apparel (Robert Hockley); Hard Riders Motorcycle Club Galveston Chapter; DGA Decorations (Maduesuel and Lakesha Carey); Vickie’s Hidden Treasures (Victoria Taylor); Keith Henry Political Campaign; Anchored Real Estate Team (Frederick and Therese Rogers); Mayor Dedrick Johnson; LRT Air & Heating (Fred and Nicki Jones); Hands of Care Massage (Krystal Armstrong-Collins); Lost & Found Ministry (Doc Amey); FEAR (Paul Morgan); Faliesha Mason (Kroger representative); Toys for Tots; and a host of other community supporters, as well as The Galveston County Daily News.
If you’d like to volunteer or donate, please call me at 832-677-7551.
“If you wait until you can do everything for everybody, instead of something for somebody, you’ll end up doing nothing for nobody.” — Malcom Bane
Carla Smith is a board member of the G-County Hope Foundation.
