Nov. 20, 2004
In this weeks Magnolia Potpourri an article "Charity laments that toy donations insufficient" appeared and I would like to shed a bit of light on this subject. 

Toy drives are in full swing at just about every business and school in and around town.  What folks might not realize is that toys collected by most organizations (names withheld) are picked up and delivered to Houston where they are divided up to be distributed back into the "community" but not necessarily the Magnolia community.  Only a very small percentage of toys collected in our city, make it back to our children.  Truck loads are gathered here and what we get back can easily fit into one automobile or at best one small trailer. 

Magnolia area families struggling during the holidays know to contact the Society of Samaritans for assistance as the SOS is the central charity organization for this area.  However, it occurs to me that perhaps the citizens of Magnolia working hard to collect toys and food are not aware of their donations going to Houston area families first.

We need UNITY in the COMMUNITY. If Magnolia area citizens desire to help please ask the person taking donations where those toys go to be distributed and how many reach our children.  If in doubt, giving to the Society of Samaritans is a sure bet that those toys will go to the kiddo's in our community.

This website is a donation of love by the Gibbons Family in an attempt to keep folks informed of the needs in our area and how they can help.

Sincerely,
Lynette Gibbons

Please note this is not an attempt to criticize these organizations but is intended for information purposes for those wishing to contribute donations to the Magnolia area families.