Larry Goings still remembers the 2-year-old girl who came to the Pike County District Attorney’s office in Magnolia.
The child was attending Goings’ annual program several years ago to receive a coat and a toy for Christmas.
“She sat on Santa’s lap and quietly answered Santa’s question, ‘What do you want for Christmas?’ with ‘a pair of shoes.’
“And at that point, I looked at the child and saw that she was wearing no shoes,” Goings said. “After I had excused myself and dried my eyes, I located that child’s mother and told her to meet me after the program so we could make sure that child would have some shoes.”
Goings said the child’s visit with Santa is his most memorable in the 11 years that he has been distributing coats and toys to less fortunate children from infant to age 12.
Since beginning the program in 1999, Goings said, 2,500 children in Pike County have received a coat and a toy for Christmas.
He said the program has averaged about 100 donated coats and toys annually. The coats and toys that are not distributed during the annual program are given to the Mississippi Department of Human Services and church and charitable organizations to give to families in need.
“None of this would have been possible without all the good, warm-hearted people of Pike County who have donated the coats, gifts, toys and their time,” he said.
Goings said the incentive for the annual coat and toy drive came soon after he moved his family to Pike County near Magnolia in 1999.
“I saw there were impoverished families who were having a rough time,” he said. “I wanted to do something to contribute to the community and be a part of the community — to make a statement that we weren’t here to take, but to give something.”
Goings approached then-District Attorney Dunn Lampton about the idea. He said Lampton “embraced the plan and offered his office to be used as the drop-off and distribution point for the program.”
“I was really surprised that someone would come to me with the idea,” Lampton said. “He was not from this area, so that made it more interesting that he would do this project for people he didn’t even know. It was a kind of outreach for the community.”
After Lampton left office, his successors Danny Smith and Dee Bates continued participating in the program and allowing the district attorney’s office to be used as the distribution site for the coats and toys.
“The first year, we distributed the coats on the front lawn of the old district attorney’s office,” Goings said. “The next year, we had the program inside the office. We thought we had really gone big time.”
Still, each year, Goings said he worries if there will be enough coats and toys for distribution.
“People are like me, they procrastinate and wait until the last minute to do their shopping for their families,” he said. “I hope that while they’re shopping for their families, they will remember to help those less fortunate.
“I lose sleep every year,” he said. “Most people gain weight during the holidays. I lose weight because I hope the program will be successful.”
Last year, Goings said, the poor economy hit the program, with only about 60 coats and 60 toys received. All items last year were given to DHS for distribution.
Goings said donations for the program begin coming in one or two days before Thanksgiving and continue through Dec. 21.
“Ideally, we would like to have a new coat,” he said. “If it’s a used coat, it must be cleaned. We want a person to give something that they would wear themselves or allow their child to wear.”
He said toys must be new, wrapped and labeled with a tag showing the age and gender for the gift.
The only changes in the program this year are the drop-off and distribution sites.
Goings said Pike National Bank, 350 Rawls Drive, and its Pike County branches are the designated drop-off points for coats and toys. The coats and toys will be distributed from 2 to 4 p.m. Dec. 22 at PNB’s main branch on Rawls Drive. He said the move will allow greater accessibility for participants and donors.
“This is the first year Pike National Bank is participating in the program,” Goings said. “I’m hopeful this will be a long-term relationship for the event, because people get used to staying at one location and identify with that location where it happens.
“I want to thank (president and chief executive officer) Joe Sones and (executive vice president) Diane Cothern and all (PNB) Pike County locations serving as drop off sites,” he said.
On distribution day, Going said families line up and wait.
“What we’ve found is that children and parents are willing to line up and stand out in the cold to get a coat and a toy,” he said. “And nine out of every 10 people in the line are there because they have a true need. They know there’s going to be an event and they just show.”
Each child, he said, gets a chance to sit on Santa’s lap and receive a coat and toy.
Goings hopes the program will soon expand into other charitable work.
“I would like to open a food harvest program, where we can help serve food to senior citizens who are unable to make ends meet,” he said.
“I want to help families who have been affected by the downturn in the economy, and help others to make sure that aid gets to the right people who need it.”
