Eastside Community Ministry Donates Toys to Children in Need

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – Christmas is just five days away and as children
mail their last minute letters to Santa, some area families are
having trouble filling the space underneath the Christmas tree.
Eastside Community Ministry is offering free toys for children in
need under 10 years of age. Jamie Trout, with Eastside Community
Ministry, says that while toys were being passed out this
morning—more toys can be picked up from Eastside next week
beginning on Monday.

“We’ve been able
to bless around 50 kids for Christmas; and these are kids that didn’t
make it to the Angel Tree for whatever reason—and so, they’re
referred to us by the Salvation Army and we get them signed up. And
toys came from McHugh’s Toy Drive again this year and also some
secret shoppers; so we’re happy to be able to bless them today.”

Meanwhile, the
Eastside Community Ministry Food Pantry is in need of Winter weather
food donations during the colder months of the year.

“Our food pantry
has been very busy—as you can imagine—this time of year. And so,
we’ve been averaging about 250 households a month in our food
pantry and we’re running low on soup. So if people are interested
in donating soup; we need chicken noodle, tomato, vegetable—really
any kind of soup would work. So, they could drop that off here at
Eastside Monday through Thursday.”

For more information
or to donate to the Toy Program or the Food Pantry, contact Eastside
Community Ministry located on Stillwell Street in Zanesville.