West Stanly Christian Ministries is teaming up with local churches and people throughout the county to collect toys for families in the area as part of its annual Day of Giving.

Individuals and organizations have until Dec. 12 to donate toys to WSCM, 100 S. Love Chapel Road, Stanfield.

This year’s Day of Giving will be Dec. 14. On that day, families that have registered for the event will be allowed to shop for toys for their children in the gymnasium of the Family Sports and Fitness in Stanfield. Each child usually gets $75 to $100 worth of toys, WSCM Executive Director Robert Britt said.

Any toys will be accepted, but to be fair and uniform Britt prefers people and groups try and donate toys that are worth no more than $25. 

Once the toys are picked out and then gift wrapped, volunteers will give the families gift tags so they can fill them out and have the toys ready for Christmas.

“We don’t want to be social services,” Britt said. “We’re trying to empower families to provide for themselves.”

Besides the toys, $25 Food Lion gift cards will also be given to each of the families along with hopefully a box of food items. 

The event is not just limited to Stanly County. Churches in Cabarrus, Union and Mecklenburg help out with the event and families are served from neighboring counties. 

This will be WSCM’s seventh Day of Giving. Last year, Britt said 150 families were served, consisting of around 400 children.

WSCM is also partnering with Providence Church of God in Locust to provide a Christmas party that includes a dinner for families Saturday served by members of WSCM and the church. Britt said more than 100 people attended last year’s Christmas party. 

He said he gets an “adrenaline rush” seeing so many people from such diverse backgrounds come together to help those less fortunate in the area.

“The biggest reward that we get from this is seeing the body of Christ united,” Britt said. “When you see people from different streams of the body of Christ coming together and getting around what we have in common rather than focusing on what divides us, it is really amazing.”

For the Day of Giving, and all of the necessary help that comes with it, “we get to tap into anybody and everybody in the community that wants to help other folks in need,” he said.

For more information about WSCM or the Day of Giving, go to weststanlychristian.com or call 704-888-6406.