Foundation brings joy to families

The Gillim Foundation recently completed its eighth straight year of providing toys for children in need across Sampson County.

The annual event, The Gillim Foundation Toy Drive, was held in its customary location of Southern Ambiance in Clinton. Scores of families flocked to the event center where towers of donated toys, the Grinch and Santa awaited.

The turnout for this year’s event was like never before, with foundation co-founder Ed Gillim touting it as the biggest one to date.

“I feel very proud to be a part of this toy drive that we had this year,” he noted. “It’s our eighth annual, and it was a great one; we actually had more children and we served more families this year than ever.”

As for what the biggest turnout was, Gillim said they gave gifts to 164 families during the two-hour event, helping to reach families in more than just Sampson County.

“When this started eight years ago, the first toy drive, I had about two grocery bags worth of toys,” he said. “The organization has grown much since then and we were actually able to help out a nonprofit agency in Pitt County that reached out to us this year again.

“It was our second year helping them, and we were able to actually provide them with a trailer’s worth full of toys,” Gillim continued. “That was an amazing feeling for our foundation, as their agency was able to help serve between 120 to 130 families.”

If that wasn’t moving enough, Gillim said they received an extra special donation that went to one lucky family — a giant Barbie dollhouse. While that may not seem super extravagant, the origin behind the donation tells a different story.

“Oh, man, receiving that, it was amazing. It’s what Christmas is all about, the season of giving,” he said. “We have a neighbor here in Garland, his name is Adam Smith. He actually had a daughter, her name was Addison. Unfortunately, she only lived between 12 and 15 minutes as she had complications.

“So me and him had a conversation, and he was telling me how he wanted to make a donation,” Gillim added. “He said, he would like to donate a Barbie dollhouse in the memory of his daughter and it was a nice one.”

Gillim noted they held a moment of silence that night in Addison’s honor before holding a drawing for the dollhouse. The lucky winner, he noted, held its own funny little highlight.

“When we actually had the drawing, the fortunate family, who’s name escapes me, was so ecstatic,” he said. “It was funny because the lady that actually won it, she said she had planned on not even putting her name in the drawing, but my wife told her to go for it, and she actually won.”

Donations are the core of Gillim’s toy drive, made possible, he said, by the generosity of the community.

“The toys, it all comes from donations,” Gillim attested. “We actually have several different agencies that help us with toy donations. “I have classmates, connections with people that I’ve worked with, former law enforcement officers, and other former places that I’ve been, they actually give us toy donations. I even have one couple, a military couple, him and his wife, they want to remain anonymous, but they‘ve got hearts of gold. They’re actually in Minnesota but they send donations every year.

“It’s that sense of community, and giving back, that makes us want to continue and grow not only the toy drive but The Gillim Foundation as well,” he added. “We’ve already got new and even more people wanting to donate lined up for next year’s event so we’re looking forward to what’s next.”