Dixie Thrasher, a  seventh-grader at Effingham County Middle School, encouraged her  fellow students to donate  toys to children who would otherwise have little or nothing from Santa this year due to their parents being financially unable to provide them with such joys at Christmas.

Thrasher is not a stranger to “random acts of kindness” as she has generously donated to other causes in the past, but this was her first time initiating a toy drive.

Around the first of December, she approached her school counselor Jennifer Logsdon and counselor’s secretary Debbie Williams about the idea. Logsdon was impressed with Thrasher’s idea and helped her contact United Way to locate the children who might benefit.

Thrasher began spreading the word about the toy drive throughout the school. Soon one of the ECMS teachers decided to make the toy drive a part of her classes assignments by having the students compose the “persuasive message”  that the board of education sent out to the ECMS students’ homes on the telephone calling program School Messenger.

The toy drive produced approximately $200 worth of toys that will provide laughter, smiles, and excitement to about 25 Effingham children on Christmas morning. While the families who will benefit from the generosity and compassion of these students will be grateful for this display of kindness, perhaps the students themselves received far more from this in the way of understanding how they can make a difference in someone’s life.

Thrasher is already looking at other ideas where she can lend a hand in the community, including a food drive and a project that would help the elderly in the community.