Making a difference: Tommy’s Motorsports teams with city to give kids a Christmas

December 16, 2020 by Collin Riggs

Tommy’s Motorsports in Clinton recently filled three SUVs with toys after its second holiday toy drive.

The drive was led by Jeremey Cross, an employee at Tommy’s, who said the idea came to him after Thanksgiving last year.

“This is the second year we’ve done it,” said Cross. “Sometime around Thanksgiving last year, I approached the owners and asked them about it. They loved the idea, but told me I would have to handle it. It was just something I thought we could do and succeed at. I’m blessed to work here, and the owners are all about helping the community. They let me loose to pursue this, and that’s really cool. Honestly, we’re a big toy store ourselves if you think about it. And if we can give back a little bit, I’m always ready for that.”

Cross said that he worked with the city of Clinton this year, and actually increased donations from last year when the business at Interstate 75, Exit 122, began the toy collection effort.

“Last year, we worked with [the city] and they had a box for donations, and it did quite well,” he said. “This year, though, we had a lot of toys. We probably tripled what we did last year, and last year was definitely a success too. But this year we just exceeded it. They brought three SUVs and we were cramming toys everywhere we could.”

Cross also said that his coworkers at Tommy’s helped out with donations of their own, including cash and some toys.

“The employees all gave money,” he said. “I went to Walmart with probably around $250 or $300. It’s every kid’s dream going to go to the store and just buy all the toys they can, and I got to do that. Then again, I don’t know what kids really play with now, so I was asking everyone I could find in the store to help me figure out what I should get.”

Cross said he’s worked with Donna Valandingham in the Department of Children’s Services to distribute the toys to local children in need.

“It’s my understanding that it’s going towards a lot of kids in foster care and kids being assisted by DCS,” Cross said. “I feel like if DCS is involved in your life, you’re probably not having a great year. We hope this will help take a little stress off the kids. They need to be kids and have presents on Christmas day. We’ll get as many local kids as we can and then try to expand outward if we can.”

Cross said he’s very grateful for everyone who donated this year, and if any other businesses want to join in next year, all they need to do is contact him.

“I’m very grateful for the donations we received,” he said. “It’s been a rough year for everybody, and at least for these kids, it won’t be as rough as it might have been otherwise. If a business wants a box, they can contact me and I’ll get them one. We’ll get them a donation box and they can be involved in this as well. All they have to do is put a box in their entryway somewhere and that’s basically it. We filled some SUVs this year, but I want to work on filling a box truck or something. Maybe a small box truck… but you have to start somewhere.”