Richland St. Jude toy drive success

The Richland Parish Assessor’s Office’s St Jude Kids Toy Drive was a huge success this year.

Assessor Lee Brown said that he and his family will always try to give back to the kids and hospital for all they did for their family during their time they spent at St. Jude with their son.

In 2014, Brown was bestowed the honor of serving as the president of the Louisiana Assessor’s Association, and in his tenure, he and a fellow Assessor, Jeff Gardner of East Feliciana Parish, requested each assessor bring a toy to the year-end Association meeting in December. Jeff Gardner has been collecting toys to deliver to the St Jude satellite in Baton Rouge for some time. 

This effort has grown to where the toys are now delivered to the site in Baton Rouge where about 20 percent are used to bring Christmas to the kids at that location. The other estimated 80 percent  are loaded on a “donated” transport truck headed to Memphis for the children receiving care at the main St Jude Campus. 

Brown said next year’s St Jude Kids Toy Drive promises to be even larger. Cross Keys Bank became a collection point for the toys this year. They have made a commitment for next year, and Commercial Capital Bank has also pledged to collect toys next year. 

Brown would like to extend a huge thank you to all who contributed to this project this year. The outpouring of support from our community was wonderful to see. The toys have been delivered, and if you missed out this year, you can go to www.stjude.org and make a donation to support the hospital and its groundbreaking research.