CHRISTMAS SPIRIT
6-year-old collects 325 toys to give away
PRESTON — Six-year-old Aubrey Barringer of Preston is a giver. If you combined the Christmas spirit of 1,000 Santas, that is where she begins. She beams like Tinkerbell. She also loves Christmas and has managed to collect 325 toys to give to kids in need in Caroline County. She has been assisted in this quest through the elf-like magic of Social Services, which handles the actual deliveries.
There were stacks of cool toys, and bags of stuffed animals. These are not junky toys. These are nice ones like a baby Yoda or red fire engine or a brick of wooden pieces in a game called Jenga.
“I would donate to the kids in need so they would have a better Christmas. I like the Slinkys. We were planning on grabbing 500 toys,” Aubrey said.
Although she ended up
collecting 325 together, she was still happy. And she did not do this all by herself, she said.
“I had lots of friends and family that helped me, like 30 people,” she said.
One of her big success items was selling something to eat.
“I made reindeer food for sale. You know so the reindeer could eat it. People bought reindeer food so they could see a reindeer,” she said. Reindeer food is traditionally made of oats and glitter.
Glenn Anders, supervisor of child support for Caroline County, will come and pick up all the toys and get ready to distribute them. Aubrey and her family packed up all the toys for pick up as the sun went down over the Choptank River Monday evening.
She looked up in the sky at an airplane and said, “It’s a rocket ship.”
This was Aubrey’s second year collecting gifts for others. Last Christmas she managed to collect 306 toys to donate.
“I just wanted all the kids to have presents,” she said.
Aubrey’s mom Renee said she likes that her daughter is thinking about others. It was important to Barringer that her daughter gets the message early to think of others.
It shows a great community, when a 6-year-old can make a huge impact just with good will and a little elbow grease.