The Elks have been hosting Christmas for more than 100 years.

Elks Member Jim Culp, who co-chairs the Children’s Christmas program with his wife Sue, said that for the longest time the program was a way to gather donations to support Christmas for less fortunate children when the mills shut down years ago. At that time they would give out a doll or a toy to a lot of local children.

The program was primarily for East Liverpool children but in the past couple of years it has been expanded to cover children in Upper Hancock County, Wellsville and Beaver Local schools and the Christian schools.

Tickets for participation in the program on Christmas morning are given to the schools’ guidance counselor, to mail out in postage paid envelopes to families they feel would benefit. The tickets are sent to the counselors because they are the ones who probably know best which families can use some support, Culp said.

Coats were hung and shoes stacked ready for distribution to less fortunate for the 2024 Elks Lodge Children’s Christmas. (Submitted photo)

On Christmas morning, each family who receives a ticket can then bring however many children they have to the lodge where they are provided breakfast, given coats, sweatshirts and pants, socks, hats, gloves, shoes until they run out, sports balls, books, puzzles, blankets and hygiene bags donated by local dentists with shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpastes, a bottle of water or other drink before seeing Santa Claus and heading into the toy to select three to five toys of their choosing.

“Each child basically gets an entire Christmas,” Culp said

For the past two years there have been over 300 children participate.

Culp said all this is done in about two hours on Christmas morning with the help of approximately 90 Elks members coming in to volunteer.

“A lot of people that come down are people that went through the line as children and maybe their families weren’t fortunate enough to be able to afford a lot of gifts, so they took advantage of the Elks and now they come back as Elks and pay it back,” Culp said.

Culp noted they also get people who aren’t Elks members calling and saying they went through the toy line as children and want to come in and volunteer for it. They are told to come in because it lets them relive the experience and also pay it forward.

“We raise a lot of money in the Elks itself. We do a lot of fundraisers to raise money, but we can’t do it without our local community helping us,” Culp said. “We need local donators like businesses, churches and people. We probably get about half the toys we give away from local donations which allows us to spend more of the money we get on clothing and other stuff these children need.”

Culp said the more help the organization can get from the community, the more kids, they can take care of, but the organization never tries to anticipate what they are going to get in donations, because they know there are good years and there are bad years where people struggle. With a not-so-great economy and prices shooting way up people do less and less to help as they have to take care of their own families first.

The organization can always use all the help they can get, because the more they are able to get, the more they are able to provide for the children.

The Elks are seeking donations of coats, sweat suits, pajamas, hygiene items, hats, scarves, gloves, shoes, puzzles, educational books, sports balls, and toys for children in preschool through middle school (target ages-3-12) in a variety of sizes and batteries.

Culp noted that batteries are a big need because they don’t allow a battery-operated toy to leave without batteries in it so the child can play with it.

All donated items must be new and unwrapped.

“We can always use help. We always spend on our own between $10,000 to 15,000 a year from the Elks on this event and anything that we get from the community helps us that much more, but we don’t want to count on that because you just never know,” Culp said.

Culp noted that St. Clair Township Police Department, Alcatraz, McKinney’s and other businesses have been great to them, but that you can never know when things could change.

The Elks go into each year not counting on donations, but knowing what donations the community can give that year will allow kids to pick a few extra toys or allow more kids to get a coat or shoes before they run out of that size.

The Elks try to not to carry over any toys from the previous year, because they don’t want a child to come through and not be able to find what is hot for today’s Christmas, Culp said. They want to be able to give the children the same thing their friends are getting, not toys that have aged out in popularity.

“We do try to make sure the clothing, toys and coats are all current because the kids want the same thing their fellow classmates have, so we try to make sure what we give away is no different,” Culp said.

Culp noted there have been a few years where they have had leftover toys and natural disasters have happened somewhere, like Kentucky, a few years ago which was hit hard by tornados. The Culps loaded up a 24 foot U-Haul with the left-over toys, got some additional donations from Elks members along with food, water and blankets and headed to Kentucky to give to the children there who lost everything when their homes were destroyed.

Anyone interested in donating can do so by cash or check at the Elks Lodge, 620 Broadway, St., East Liverpool, Ohio, by giving it to the treasurer or one of the officers where it will be recorded and posted to the committee’s bank account, where purchases are tracked for audit purposes and so the community knows the money is being spent on

“It’s important to us that everybody understands we volunteer all our time and efforts for fundraisers just for the kids, and there is nothing that goes to the lodge and nothing that goes to the volunteers; its all for the kids,” Culp said.

Toys donations can be made at the lodge or any of the businesses with a collection box including Glenmoor Fire Department, Bermuda Tan, Chef Ray’s Cafe, Tim Hortons, Calcutta Huntington Employees, Walmart, Santa Clara, Wee the People II, Campbell Signs, Crossroads at Beaver Creek, Chef Ray’s Diamond Bar and Grill, East Liverpool High School Public Safety Services, E.D.I, Glenmoor Superette, Coaches Burger Bar, Brooks Hearth and Home and Italo’s Glenmoor or the Elks Lodge.

To make a monetary or toy donation at the Elks Lodge ring the buzzer at the door and let them know it’s to drop off a donation for the Children’s Christmas Program.

The Elks are trying this year to prepare for 400 children.

“We do a lot for the community, but the two things we take the most pride in is our veterans and our children and we do what we can to try to make sure some of these community children can receive a Christmas,” Culp said. “We understand sometimes people temporarily need help and it’s ok to reach out to us. We are there at Christmas time for the children.”

For additional information on the program or donations call the Elks Lodge #258 at 330-385-0690

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com