Working in the District Attorney’s Office is demanding. Our days are filled with heavy caseloads, jury trials, and the difficult work of helping victims who have lost so much.
It can be exhausting, but prosecutors joined the profession to help people—and sometimes that help happens outside the courtroom. That’s why our annual Toys for Tots drive means so much to us.
The tradition began 25 years ago when then–Deputy District Attorney Thomas Stanton brought one empty Toys for Tots box back from an Ambucs meeting. Reno County residents filled that first box quickly. The next year, he brought three boxes, hung flyers, and again the community responded. Residents filled the boxes with Lego, bicycles, sports equipment, stuffed animals, and just about any toy imaginable.
With a lot of work from our hardworking office staff, the drive grew, so did our creativity. We began offering decorated sugar cookies in exchange for donations—first baked by staff, and later by two entrepreneurial children of a Kansas Highway Patrolman.
In 2020, during Stanton’s first year as District Attorney and in the midst of COVID, we added a friendly competition between local law enforcement agencies, complete with a traveling trophy.
The Sheriff’s Office won the inaugural competition. The tradition has expanded to include multiple Reno County departments, with Public Works winning last year. South Hutchinson and Heartland Credit Union have joined the effort as well.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of our toy drive, and our goal is fitting: 25 boxes of toys for local children.
If you’d like to help, bring a toy, it can be dropped off at the courthouse or at any Reno County Department, and the City of South Hutchinson from December 1st through 12th. Toys for Tots requires donations to be new, unwrapped toys for children.
In a job where we often see life’s hardest moments, Toys for Tots gives us a chance to spread joy—and reminds us just how generous our community can be.
Andrew Davison—Buhler