The Carl U. Eggleston Foundation, in conjunction with the Prince Edward County Elks Lodge, held a toy drive for more than 270 underserved children on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24. According to Carl Eggleston, the foundation’s founder, the organization has held the toy drive for approximately 12 years.

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“I think it went marvelous,” Eggleston said regarding this year’s toy giveaway event. “We had a nice turnout, we did it a little bit differently this year. We only let 15 in at a time. It was much success.”

He said he consistently attempts to improve the event and feels that it was definitely an improvement over last year’s event.

“I think it was around a couple (of) hundred last year. So we did more, and they kept coming in and coming in,” Eggleston said. “They came until about 4:30 p.m. or so.”

He said a lot of children received more than one toy.

“It’s a good thing to do for the community because, you know, this time of the season people have heating bills they gotta deal with,” Eggleston said.

“I felt that Christmas is a time that parents, you know, they have the tax bill, they’re beginning heating bills and they have those expenses that it’s very difficult for you, like a single parent, a mother probably has two or three kids and to pay those bills and then the children are lacking because the money is going toward heating and all,” Eggleston said in a previous interview regarding what led to the beginning of the event.