After a record setting year for food and toy collections by the annual Christmas at Home program in 2017, totals dropped somewhat significantly during the 2018 drive.

Although the numbers were down somewhat, it was still a success that helped several families–including elderly and disabled people–and children throughout the county around the Christmas holiday season.

According to figures compiled by office personnel at Albany City Hall, who, along with others, volunteered their time to collect and box the food and toys for families, a total of 235 families were served.

The breakdown in numbers revealed that of the 235 households, 174 included those with one or more children in the home and a total of 445 kids were served.

The families who had children received boxes filled with both food and toys and another 61 boxes of food only were delivered to either elderly and/or disabled people’s homes, according to Albany City Clerk Melissa Smith.

As always, several groups, organizations and churches participated in helping collect food and toys for families in need. There were also several individuals who worked on the projects, while several monetary donations to help buy the food and toys were made.

Smith commended the local Save-A-Lot food store and manager Anthony Dalton for the tremendous help with this year’s and past year’s drives.

She also theorized that the reason the Christmas at Home project numbers may have been down this year is because a lot of other school groups and organizations also held some type of donation drives around the Christmas season.

In 2017, about 300 homes were served and some 545 children benefited during that record year, with a total of 29 entities (organizations, churches, etc.) taking part.

Despite the drop-off in overall collections this year, event organizers are looking forward to continuing the annual event to help those less fortunate around the holidays.

The event is sponsored annually by radio station WANY, the City of Albany, Clinton County Fiscal Court, Chamber of Commerce and the Clinton County News.