Morgan County school teachers and public education employees opened up their hearts and their pocketbooks to help children in the area have a good Christmas.

Workers at the nearly 20 schools in the county school system collected 1,023 toys over the last few weeks and donated them to the U.S. Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots.

Della Carmon, president of the Morgan County Education Association and a teacher at Lacey’s Spring, said it took a cooperative effort to raise the number of toys they did this year, which was the most that they have donated in the three year’s they’ve been doing that.

“We were just looking for a way to help children in our area to have a very merry Christmas,” Carmon said. “Toys for Tots was the obvious choice for us. They’ve been around a long time and they do a great job each year.”

Toys for Tots began in 1947, when Major Bill Hendricks, USCR and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children. The group of employees purchased new, unwrapped toys for children ages 0-12.

They also donated a few bikes, which were refurbished by Bobby Bryson vocational classes at Brewer High School.

“The bikes look like brand new,” Carmon said. “They do such a great job with them. We only had a four or five, but we just didn’t have as many as we had in previous years.”

Carmon said the group set an ambitious goal at the outset of the year, but they came up just a little short. However, it is still more than they gave in 2009 (817) and 2010 (more than 900).

“It’s been a very tough year for everyone, but we’re glad we were able to do what we did,” Carmon said. “I’d like to thank all of our teachers and public school employees who donated to this project to make it a success.

“It’s been a success every year we’ve done it.”