Photo by Mike Rosier/Publisher

Members of the Southern Eagles Motorcycle Club of Edgefield have expanded their annual Christmas-giving program.

Lillie Langford's cell phone is probably still buzzing at this very moment.

And that's not an altogether bad thing for the member of the Southern Eagles Motorcycle Club of Edgefield. It simply means that another local family is reaching out for help at Christmas.

The Southern Eagles are only too happy to answer those calls.

Thomas organizes the Toys for Tots outreach for the club, which was hosted Saturday morning by the Discovery Center. This year the club has given aid to 57 families and over 140 children (and counting).

The good news is that thanks to overwhelming support offered by the community, the club will be able to continue to answer calls for help with toys and gifts for yet another Holiday season.
Saturday's annual event was the fourth such outpouring of joy for the club's membership.

Club president Kelvin Thomas remains humbled at the support the community has shown.

"We have had such a response from the community that it's just amazing," Mr. Thomas said. "We didn't know kind of what to expect with the economy the way it has been, but this has been the best year yet. We've just tried to grow it and just help out as many people as we can. It's just been amazing."

Donations have come to the club from across the greater local area, from North Augusta to Ward and even Batesburg-Leesville. The outreach originally started as a service for Edgefield County families, but as donations of toys and money flowed in from other areas the scope of the charity expanded.

The club also hosts an annual Kids Day at the Discovery Center in June in addition to other efforts.
Families were rotated through the Discovery Center every 15 minutes on Saturday.

"We've had to go back to the store for toys several times," Ms. Langford added. "But as long as the calls keep coming in we'll keep on going back and getting some more (toys)."

Items are purchased locally and families are screened for individual needs. The children also give back to club members when they pick up their toys.

Nothing can replace the thrills provided when looking into the smiling face of a child.

"You just don't know how happy these kids are," said Mr. Thomas.