More than 2,000 toys and gift items were donated for a gift giveaway this holiday season at the Loaves and Fishes food pantry at The Ridge Church in Pea Ridge.
"We lost count and stopped counting after we knew we had enough," says Jennifer Harvey, co-director of the pantry with husband Jimmy Harvey, crediting the generosity of donors who provided the gifts.
Parents get to pick a small, medium and large gift as well as three or four stocking stuffers, Harvey says. The presents are then gift-wrapped before going home with the parents. They also get a turkey, pie and rolls for their Christmas dinner.
"It's been amazing," she says, explaining she saw seven families -- not only from the northwest Arkansas area, but also from McDonald County, Mo., and nearby Oklahoma -- coming through every 30 minutes on distribution day, Dec. 17.
"If anybody would ever like to donate to a good organization -- Loaves and Fishes food pantry," she says. "We give clothing also."
"It's been really good," says Abby Smith, the Harveys' daughter. "It's impacted me in more ways than one. It's more of a blessing for me to get to give to others than I think it is for the people who come through to receive."
Smith, who says she's donated time and service all of her life, says she served after Hurricane Harvey, and that was "life changing."
"If you serve, then God will bless you more than you can imagine," Smith says.
David Smith, Abby's husband, says he did not grow up serving or donating, and this experience has greatly influenced him.
"Being able to go into all this is like a whole other world -- being able to give toys and things people can't afford to give their children," he says.
"Being a part of this family has really brought me out of my comfort zone," he adds.
"It helps me out a lot," Linda Poe says. "I am really thankful for this."
"I don't know exactly what I would have done," she says, explaining that she had a little money, but not enough to get her two children the gifts they wanted.
"We're just grateful we get to be the hands and feet of Jesus and be an extension of Him," says Pastor David Austin. "The only reason we do this is not for any accolades or pats on the back, but we do it simply so we can share the love of Christ.
"We know this has been a difficult season for a lot of families over the past few years ... this is for our community... we get to love on our community and that's important," he says.
TIMES photograph by Annette Beard Hundreds of children will have Christmas gifts and dinner they would not have otherwise had thanks to the generosity of members of The Ridge Church and donors. Gifts were distributed Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022. For more photographs, go to the PRT gallery at https://tnebc.nwaonline.com/photos/.