Washington County sheriff deputies collect Toys for Joys
Courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Department
From left, Washington County’s Salvation Army Capt. Amber Imhoff stands with Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies Joe Joscsak and Elizabeth Davidson with bags of toys to donate to children for Christmas.
Courtesy of Washington County Sheriff’s Department
Washington County deputies and community partners shop for toys to donate to children in need at Christmas.
Washington County Sheriff’s deputies went shopping over the weekend and spent Sunday wrapping gifts for their first Toys for Joy drive.
“A lot of our deputies came from humble beginnings,” said DARE instructor Elizabeth Davidson, one of the organizers of the toy drive. “Everybody’s been down on their luck in 2020. We just wanted to help the community in any way that we could.”
The deputies donated money, and with the help of community partners and sponsors, raised nearly $2,000 to purchase toys for families in need, Davidson said. She, along with Deputy Joe Joscsak and community partners shopped for toys Friday and Saturday, and on Sunday, deputies and their families spent the day together wrapping the gifts, she said.
Paul Pasquariello, owner of SP Triton Services, sponsored the program, Davidson said, by collecting the donations, helping the deputies shop, wrap and deliver gifts. Tammy Taylor, from Washington County Drug and Alcohol, helped connect the deputies with school districts that were able to get the toys to families in need.
Davidson said they were able to help 17 families through local school districts and 10 families through the Salvation Army’s Treasures for Children program, for a total of 27 families. Any additional money was used to purchase hygiene products for teenagers in the Salvation Army’s Christmas program.
“It really was a collaboration,” Davidson said.
Davidson, who is a new DARE instructor, said they hope to do the toy drive again next year.
“Kids are near and dear to my heart, so hopefully, we can keep doing this every year,” she said.