Salvation Army hosts ‘Toy & Joy shop’

(ABC 6 News) – The Salvation Army in Rochester held a toy distribution this week to ensure that no child in our community goes without Christmas presents this year.

The Toy & Joy Shop distributed toys to nearly 1,000 children in need. Gifts have been donated by generous community members since November to the local Toys for Tots, the Walmart stores, the Sharing Tree in the Apache Mall, AKE, and Evangel United Methodist Church.

"It’s meeting the needs of not just families in need, but also people who want to volunteer, people who want to donate. So, it’s really a community effort and that’s what we really appreciate and enjoy is that everybody is part of toy and joy," Salvation Army Maj. Bob Mueller said.

Major Bob Mueller says this year has been a remarkably generous year for toy donations — this event in itself is serving over one thousand children this year.

"We’re giving away many many toys per child, over five toys per child, which is wonderful. People walking out with bags full of joy and happipness for their little ones and their teenagers. So, it’s quite generous and it’s due to the amazing generosity of people in this community," Salvation Army Advisory board member, Kathleen Harrington.

The Salvation Army has been providing needs to communities during the holiday season for over 125 years.