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This story originally appeared in the Jackson Free Press. It was added to the Mississippi Free Press website in 2025.
Note that any opinions expressed in legacy Jackson Free Press stories do not reflect a position of the Mississippi Free Press or necessarily of its staff and board members.

Remember, you get back from the universe what you give, especially in tough times. This December, help a needy child by donating toys to the Mississippi Children’s Home Services. See drop-off locations in their release below, or bring a toy to the JFP Lounge this Thursday night at Pi(e) Lounge (Sal & Mookie’s). We’ll deliver it for you!

[Verbatim from MCHS:] December 8, 2008, Jackson, Mississippi – Be a Santa’s helper this year for children, adolescents and families in need through Mississippi Children’s Home Services’ Santa’s Helper Christmas Toy Drive. You can deliver the gift of hope to a child or family in need this Christmas by making Christmas wishes come true, donating toys, clothing or other items on a child or family’s Christmas wish list. For many, Mississippi Children’s Home Services is more than a place of hope. It’s a place that helps young lives ages six to 18 exposed to abuse, neglect, pain, fear, a place for families in trouble. Many of these lives have scars in need of healing. Since 1912, the nonprofit agency has been healing wounds, rebuilding trust, hope and love for Mississippi children and families.

While celebrating this holiday season with your family, take time to remember those in the care of Mississippi Children’s Home Services. You can make a difference by being a Santa’s helper and fulfilling Christmas wishes or drop off a newly purchased gift by Monday, December 15 at one of the following locations:

Fleet Feet Sports, Avery Boulevard, Ridgeland
Jodie Badon, 500 Highway 51 located in Trace Station, Ridgeland
Indian Cycle and Fitness, Pear Orchard Boulevard, Ridgeland
The Bike Rack, Lakeland Drive, Flowood
Mississippi Children’s Home Services, 1900 North West Street, Jackson

For more information on Santa’s Helper Christmas Toy Drive, contact Kelly Bilbo, Development Coordinator with Mississippi Children’s Home Services, by calling 601-709-1251 or email [e-mail missing].

Through its affiliates, Mississippi Children’s Home Society and CARES Center, Inc., the agency offers an array of programs including adoption; psychiatric residential treatment; therapeutic group homes; therapeutic foster care; children’s shelters; special education; home-based services; peer prevention education and family preservation services. Call Kelly Bilbo at 601-709-1251 or visit us online at http://www.mchscares.org to see how you can change the lives of Mississippi’s most vulnerable children.

Founding Editor Donna Ladd is a writer, journalist and editor from Philadelphia, Miss., a graduate of Mississippi State University and later the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, where she was an alumni award recipient in 2021. She writes about racism/whiteness, poverty, gender, violence, journalism and the criminal justice system. She contributes long-form features and essays to The Guardian when she has time, and was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Jackson Free Press. She co-founded the statewide nonprofit Mississippi Free Press with Kimberly Griffin in March 2020, and the Mississippi Business Journal named her one of the state's top CEOs in 2024. Read more at donnaladd.com, follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @donnerkay and email her at donna@mississippifreepress.org.