6,000 gifts collected during Sylvia's Toys for Christmas 2021
BATON ROUGE - The joy of giving for this holiday season was on display for Sylvia's Toys for Christmas.
Distribution day was a huge success. More than 400 children stopped by St. Vincent De Paul Saturday for bags filled with gifts—and even some Chick-Fil-A.
"It's quite remarkable just to see the community come together," Brandon Antwine, Executive Director with Chick-Fil-A, said.
And the community stepped up in a big way to make sure children in Baton Rouge have a very Merry Christmas.
"I'm very thankful and grateful. This helps a lot because the pandemic really put stress on a lot of people," parent Mariah Franklin said.
It's all thanks to community members, local organizations, and the help of many volunteers.
"It's fun each year, and you get better experience once you've done it so many times," volunteer Laynie Landry said.
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Because of the community's generosity, Sylvia's Toys for Christmas collected 6,000 new toys—nearly 2,000 gifts for area kids.
"Seeing them smile is everything because that's what Christmas is about. It's about giving. It's about joy. It's about blessings and this sort of culminates all of that here," WBRZ anchor Sylvia Weatherspoon said.
Many families say it's been a blessing.
"It's stressful with little ones. They're lucky they're young enough that they wouldn't have known different otherwise, but this is a big blessing and a big relief," parent Arlene Morrison said.