Santa's Helping Hands Shopping Event Hauls In Nearly $70K Worth of Gifts and Needs For Locals This Year

Toys, Gifts, Shoes and More Provided For Edmonson County Families

Loads of toys, gifts, shoes, and more are loaded in the Heritage Centre in Brownsville on December 1, 2024 from the annual Santa's Helping Hands volunteer shopping day to benefit local families during the holidays.

Darren Doyle, story:
Santa’s Helping Hands recently gathered up volunteers to help with the shopping and organization of nearly $70K worth of items that will directly benefit Edmonson County families for the 2024 holiday season.

According to SHH co-founder Mark Wardlow, the shopping started on Monday, November 25th at Shoe Carnival in Bowling Green where nearly $9K was spent on 271 pair of shoes.

"Shoe Carnival has been giving us great deals for 20 years now," Wardlow said, who has been very open with the places where items are normally purchased each year and has built great working relationships with those retailers, such as Shoe Carnival.

While nearly 300 pairs of shoes is an impressive haul, the big shopping day was on Sunday, December first.

"We were so blessed with a lot of support from Edmonson County, where probably around 75-80 people showed up to help shop at Walmart on Morgantown Road," he said. "We started handing out cards with information on clothing, toys & specifics around 3PM and were loaded up and headed home by 6:30. Walmart had four registers going and plenty of extra help for us. When the final bag was loaded, the total was $57,775."

Wardlow said when their team arrived back in Brownsville at the Heritage Centre, the space from which was donated by Robbie and Andrea Brantley, they were met with other teams--ECHS Wildcat Baseball and ECMS Basketball, who helped unload the bags of gifts.

"This has become a routine for us and we appreciate the support from our local athletes, it truly makes our job so much easier."

While this year's total of gift-giving is estimated to be around $68K, Wardlow says that's not all, as the group works year round to help those in EC who are in need.

"Throughout 2024 we also purchased lots of clothing, beds, shoes, and food for families dealing with house fires, hardships, or emergencies. We also provided several gas cards, fast food cards and Cee Bee Food Store certificates for families dealing with medical hardships where they were traveling to doctors and staying at hospitals."

He said that was another $6,300 in help provided.

Wardlow said the reason that the group is open about sharing these numbers is not about recognition, but transparency.

"This community supports our golf tournaments, raffles, and fundraising events all year long, so we want everyone to know where the money goes and how it is spent. After 20 years, our little charity has grown to into a huge success that we really didn’t expect. The best part is 100% of all money raised is spent for those in Edmonson County, only. No other surrounding county has anything close to what we have or the support we have. Santa’s Helping Hands would like to send out a huge 'thank you' to every volunteer and everyone who continues supporting our cause. We're looking forward to even more in 2025 and the years to come."