Christmas comes early to local families

In Salisbury, Christmas came early for dozens of families.

Tuesday afternoon, residents stopped by St. Paul AME church in Salisbury to drop off toys, gifts, and toiletries for local families in need.

Nichole Collingsworth and Gary Tucker are the organizers of the second annual Christmas Toys and Clothes Dinner.

Collingsworth tells 47 ABC she started this event after noticing many families are in need during this time of year. So with the community behind them, Collingsworth and Gary Tucker recruited residents who were willing to sponsor families in need of a holiday pick- me-up.

"The sponsors would adopt a child or a particular family.and then if somebody is donating gift cards we will go out and get the different items that the families wanted and put on their list," says Tucker.

One of the sponsors this year is the Watson family. Mary Beth Watson tell us she usually sponsors a family during the holidays, but this time she wanted her children to be involved in the process.

They had fun going shopping  and knowing that they are going to help out other kids and not for themselves. They were really into buying for others and pretty serious about making sure they got a really good gift for them," says Mary Beth Watson.
 
"We bought a game called Clue and then we bought a coloring kind of thing, Barbies, and a baby doll," says 9 year old Mckenzie Watson.

Although Collingsworth admits tons of work goes in leading up this event, it is all worth it in the end.  

"Just see them smile and that's the best part," says Collingsworth.

Collingsworth tells us next year they hope to sponsor 100 children, and  they are looking to start planning for next year's event as early as February.