“With Love, From Lexington” — local toy drive gives back to NC kids affected by Hurricane Helene

LEXINGTON, SC (WOLO) — “With Love, From Lexington” — that’s the name of a local toy drive that’s helping to make sure children affected by Hurricane Helene have gifts for Christmas.

This week’s toy drive is a joint effort between the Lexington Police Department and For Life Medical Transport — both realizing that more could be done for kids who lived through the devastation of Hurricane Helene.

“During our Toys For Tots drive that we did for the last several weeks, we had several people that asked us if we’re doing something for North Carolina. They understood that Toys For Tots stays local, and so we wanted to take this week to collect toys that we’re going to take to Cliffside, NC tomorrow morning,” says Sergeant Cameron Mortenson.

EMS Director Patrick Harley with For Life Medical Transport says he and his team saw the devastation in Cliffside and across Rutherford County firsthand.

“You’ll go down through certain areas and see massive debris areas piled up 30 feet tall where the river deposited the debris, and you look, and one of the things we did see, and one of the things that really gave us the emotional drive to do this… we looked up in one of the trees and about 40 feet up in the tree there was a Santa Claus, an inflatable Santa Claus stuck up in the tree. And we consider that to be a calling,” he says.

Thursday afternoon, toys were collected outside of Tractor Supply on Sunset Boulevard in Lexington — and added to a nearly full trailer that will head to Cliffside on Friday.

Mortenson says donations of toys and money have poured in all week, including donations from Learning Express, Flight Deck, and Walmart.

“Everyday we’ve collected quite a few toys, we had an anonymous donor give $3,000 plus we took in almost another $1,000 this week, so this morning we went and spent $4,000 on toys at a local toy store,” Mortenson says.

State officials report that Hurricane Helene damaged over 70,000 homes in NC alone, taking the lives of 100 people.

“We need to make sure that the kids have a good Christmas. They’re dealing with a lot of disaster, a lot of emotions and being able to celebrate a normal type Christmas, and we want to make sure that we love them, we care for them, and we’re making sure they have a good Christmas,” says Harley.

Donations can still be made through the end of the day Friday at Lexington Police Department — located at 111 Maiden Lane.