By M. Karen Brewer – Pickens Sentinel 12/6, 2000
Country Santa and his elves get
into the Christmas spirit early.
"This is the lull before the storm," said Buddy Cox on the first day
of December, as he and three of his 'elves' sorted donated toys for this years
Country Santa operation.
Karen Dodgens, Cox's assistant at John S. Cox and Associates, has already been
hard at work answering telephone calls for Country Santa, around 30 to 40 calls
each day.
"It's such a hard job to get all of this pulled together," said Cox,
who closes his Pickens business each December 10 concentrate his efforts on
Country Santa. He credits Dodgens for her enormous help with the operation.
Around 2,000 children will be blessed with Christmas presents from Country
Santa, who relies on the benevolence of the community for donated toys, and the
assistance of volunteer 'elves' for picking up, sorting, and delivering
donations.
Helping him sort through toys this day were two experienced elves and one elf on
his first day.
Eric Breazel, a 1997 graduate of Pickens High School and a senior human resource
development major at Clemson University, has returned each December since he was
in high school to help Country Santa. "When Eric comes, it's like one of
our kids coming back .
Bill Bradley said that he was invited to the Country Santa workshop by a friend
in the Lions Club about five years ago. "I've been coming back every year
after that," he said. "Once you get involved in it, you want to
stay involved: You can't come up here and do this "without falling in love
with it. I go all over the Upstate picking up toys. It's my favorite pastime.
It's something I can do since I'm retired."
Bradley recruited his niece and her husband to Country Santa, and their two
daughters, ages six and nine, can't wait to come and help, Bradley said.
Cox added that students from
Pickens Middle School have already made a visit to the Workshop to help Country
Santa sort toys.
Breazel helps Country Santa by picking up toys from drop-off-sites. "People
don't get into the Christmas spirit until a week or two before Christmas,"
he said, "and that's when we do a lot of pickups. Now, we're sorting the
toys as they come in." Breazel noted that toys for 180 families have
already been bagged. "The earlier donations come in, and the earlier we get
started, the better," he said.
"We encourage people to give new toys, or at least to make sure that the
toys are in good condition," said Breazel.
"We try to stress to people who
donate to us to please donate new or nearly new toys," said Cox.
"We're trying to curb the old used toys that we just can't give to kids. We
don't have the time or the manpower to try to repair cars that have only three
wheels, or dolls that l1ave stains all over them.
"We're trying to get the
word out that we want to help as many people in this area as we
can," Cox continued, "but we can help only as many kids as we
get toys for."
Bradley added that coverage from the local newspapers is welcomed in getting the
word out to the public. "If we didn't have The Pickens Sentinel and The
Easley Progress, we wouldn't have any publicity," he said. "We
appreciate it very much."
Cox noted that 300 bicycles will be re-stored by Bonnie and Vos Vosburgh for
Country Santa to give to children this
Christmas. "They do a
tremendous job every year," he said.
"You can't overlook all of
the diehard elves, like Bill, Eric, Bob Spalding, and Karen," Cox
continued. "They're here every year.
Although Country Santa reaches
into parts of Greenville, Spartanburg, and Laurens Counties, Cox said that he
would like to try to focus efforts more on Pickens and Oconee Counties.
Cox said that the Salvation Army
and United Christian Ministries no longer screen applicants for Country Santa,
and that the screening process takes a lot of time out of the country Santa
operation. "I would like to focus on going through agencies for screening
calls, because that's where so much of our time gets gone," he said.
"We helped 750 families last
year, with the skeleton crew that we have. It takes a lot of lard work from all
of the volunteers. And we thank the public for donating. We're not supported by
any state or federal funds, the United Nay, or anything. We're totally dependent
on people donating to us.”
Toys are not the only donations
Country Santa receives and distributes. Schools, Girl Scouts, churches, and
other groups have sponsor food drives. This year, Hillcrest Memorial Park
has begun a non-perishable food drive which will run through December 22,
at which time, food donations will be given to Country Santa to deliver
on Christmas Eve.
Cox and his elves depend
upon drop-off sites for Country Santa toy donations. Pizza Inn, 1ocated in
the Town Creek Shopping Center in Pickens, is one such drop-offsite
where patrons can bring new or nearly new toys for delivery to Country Santa.
Area motorcyclists will once
again show their support for Country Santa with' their annual toy run.
During last year's run, from
Pickens to Easley, bikers and their families brought stuffed animals and other
toys for Country Santa to give away Christmas Eve to area children. Toy run
organizer 'Teresa Stafford said that 250 motorcyclists participated, and that
others donated gifts before the run.
This year's toy run will begin at
the Greenville-Pickens Speedway outside Easley on Sunday, December 10. Bikers
will meet at noon and pull out at 1:00 p.m., headed for the American
Legion Hut on Pine Thicket Road in Norris. Toys will dropped off at the American
Legion Hut, where food and beverages will be available, and a raffle awing for
gift certificates and donated gifts will held. $1 tickets will be offered
at the Speedway, the proceeds going to Country Santa.
"It's enjoyable when
everybody pulls together," said Cox of the community's efforts to help
children.
You would expect Country Santa to
have figures of Santa Claus in his home, and he does. One is sentimental
Santa, who will read aloud a small book that you place in his hands. Another is
a comical Santa, who dances to a lively beat. But another, which Cox showed
during a previous visit to his home, is a praying Santa, kneeling before he
Christ child.
Cox said that he doesn't let the
true meaning of Christmas become lost. In each bag of toys, he
said, there is placed a note that reads: With love from Jesus and Country
Santa.
The culmination of the season's
efforts will )e Christmas Eve, when elves from near and far come to Country
Santa's headquarters in the Oolenoy Valley to help deliver toys to area
children.
On Christmas Eve, small toys
become small miracles
It's no wonder that miracles
happen at Country Santa's
headquarters at the end of a lane that turns off a road named Miracle Hill.
If you would like to volunteer as
an elf to help collect toys from drop-off sites or to help unload, sort, or bag
toys at the Country Santa workshop, Call John S. Cox and Associates at 878-2045.
