By By Adrienne McKenzie
Local firefighters are doing their part to ensure area children have a wonderful Christmas.
Daniel White, a member of the IAFF local firefighters union 4101, and several local firemen collected many toys in an annual toy drive Saturday morning.
"We did really well with it," White said. "I'm really proud of it."
As of Monday afternoon, White was unsure how many toys the firemen had collected, but said there were a lot of them.
"We don't have an exact number," he said. "But I know it was over $1,000 worth of toys. We had two truck loads of toys."
The firemen who helped on Saturday were White, Jeremy Blackmon, Eugene Edwards, Zack Stewart, Chris Lee and Chris Hughes.
The six firemen spent approximately seven hours at Fred's in order to collect toys for needy children.
"The toys went to the White Christmas program," White said. "The SAIL Center in Bay Minette has a program they put together at Christmas and they deliver toys to Baldwin and Escambia counties."
Many individuals gave to the firemen's toy drive Saturday.
"I usually try to give if I run across the people collecting toys," Shannon Henley said. "I know there are needy children out there and I bought a toy for a boy and a girl because I didn't know which one to buy for. I don't have children at home anymore, but I like to give anyways."
Renea McGhee also wanted to give to area children for Christmas.
"There are kids that are not fortunate enough to get any toys on Christmas and I wanted to do my part to help those kids and give back," McGhee said.
Lewis Banks Jr. was also in attendance.
"Eugene (Edwards) told me about the toy drive they were having and I had to give something because I like to give back to the community when I can," Banks said. "But I had to find some kind of musical toy for the kids."
White was appreciative of many different businesses and individuals for assisting with the toy drive.
"I want to thank Fred's and their employees for all their help and assistance," White said. "I want to thank City Hall for their support and definitely the people of Atmore for showing up and giving us such a good turnout. We would also like to thank Santa Clause for taking time out of his busy schedule and joining us."
Anyone who needs assistance in purchasing Christmas toys, contact White at 379-3195 and he will provide White Christmas information. The deadline is Dec. 7.
Atmore Advance sports editor Matthew Nascone contributed to this article.