By Sheriff Tommy Ford
Even as the summer of 2020 slips into the rear-view mirror, the Bay County Sheriff’s Office is gearing up for the busiest time of year in terms of not only keeping all Bay County safe, but caring for disadvantaged children in Bay County in two special ways. Operation ThankFULL and Project 25 will feed and provide Christmas toys for hundreds of children that might otherwise have very little for the Holidays.
Project 25 began forty years ago when a few deputies discovered a family on Christmas Eve that had been burglarized and left with no Christmas gifts for their kids. The deputies pooled their resources and purchased not only toys, but a Christmas tree for the family. In this way Project 25 was born.
Cash donations for Project 25 are collected all year but especially during the fall, as well as donations of new, unwrapped toys for children 10 years of age and younger. The names of children in need are submitted to the BCSO through the Bay County school system with the help of school guidance counselors. The BCSO will have a shopping night this year on December 8th at Walmart in Lynn Haven. Beginning at 6pm volunteers from the community and BCSO employees will spend the cash donations to purchase additional toys. Each child will get a bag of toys selected just for them to open and enjoy on Christmas morning.
2020 is the second year for Operation ThankFULL. Last year, 1,000 families received a box of food for the Holidays. This year, the program has grown, thanks to the generous contributions of many people and businesses in Bay County. The names of the families with children in need this season, will again come through the advice of Bay County Schools. Deputies will begin distributing food to homes just before Thanksgiving and the giving will continue until Christmas.
To help make Christmas possible for a family in need, please make cash donations to Operation ThankFULL and Project 25 at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office at 3421 N. Hwy 77. The office is open 8am to 5pm, Monday through Friday. Project 25 is also accepting donations of new, unwrapped toys, and Operation ThankFULL is accepting nonperishable food donations. Your donation, no matter how humble, will make a big difference in a child’s life.
2020 will undoubtedly be a year not soon forgotten, for many stressful reasons. By working together, we will make it a memorable one in a positive way for hungry families struggling to provide Christmas for their children. Thank you, Bay County, for making a Merry Christmas a reality for so many families over the last forty years of Project 25, and now feeding them as well through Operation ThankFULL. We really do live in a special place filled with giving people!
