Thousands of Haralson County children received four Christmas toys each from the 2012 Toys for Tots drive, according to Haralson County Coordinator Curtis Eidson.

The fundraiser concluded Thursday with the final distribution event at Callaway Livestock Pavilion in Buchanan.

“The generosity of Haralson County citizens who gave toys or money or volunteered time to Toys for Tots this year is absolutely overwhelming,” proclaimed a tired but happy Eidson, who led the annual campaign sponsored by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. “The toy distribution was completed on Thursday night, having presented more than 9,500 toys to about 2,000 kids. Our team put in hours and hours of hard work doing everything from paperwork to bagging toys.

“Everybody involved with Toys for Tots deserves a medal. Let me thank Robin Dockery of the Haralson County Board of Education. She is the hub of all we do. Each year, this lady works untold hours on her own time making sure no child is overlooked,” Eidson continued. “Eric Kennedy of Tallapoosa, Kelley Robinson of Buchanan and Carl Baxter of Bremen led the toy collections in their respective areas. Many others volunteered countless hours sorting, bagging and distributing toys.”

Eidson, who rejects publicity for himself, gave a special thank you to Haralson Commission Chairman Allen Poole and the Cooperative Extension Service for their courtesy in the use of the Callaway Pavilion for the toy-packing and distribution operation. He expressed appreciation for all the governmental and school officials, individuals, civic organizations and businesses who contributed time, money and hard work.

Eidson said that because of their “collective efforts, the average wait time for parents receiving toys was only about 4 minutes. We struggled with certain age groups to meet our goal of three toys per youngster (Christ received three gifts when he was born.) But, because of the generosity of our giving community, our goal was exceeded; each child received four toys.”