PORTSMOUTH, Va. — A Portsmouth group hosted a massive toy drive for children who may not otherwise get a gift from their parents, this year.
Quniana Futrell is the executive director and founder of Building Resilience in Communities (BRC). Every year, they give away gifts to children with incarcerated parents, or parents who have recently been released.
"'It Takes A Village' is what we call it. This is our sixth year doing it," Futrell said. "The pandemic alone is so hard, let alone being a young child, having a parent away during this unquestionable time."
Futrell says kids, often have a lot of difficult thoughts about their incarcerated parents, this time of year. So this toy giveaway is a way to make their holiday a little brighter.
"'Are they OK? Are they thinking about me? Will they remember me this holiday season?' Our job, here, is just to make sure the child knows they have not been forgotten," she said.
This year, it's a drive-thru style. Parents or guardians can simply drive up and volunteers will come out and load their car with gifts.
Futrell says millions of children in the United States will at some point have an incarcerated parent. Her organization works to strengthen those families.
It's something she has personal experience with.
"I grew up having a parent that was incarcerated for most of my life," Futrell said.
"I published a book all about it called, 'Our Moms.' I get out of this, joy... knowing I get to help other children who were like me, enjoy their Christmas. This is not some gift that somebody just threw together that didn't have any meaning to it. We are purposeful about everything that we put together for these children and very intentional so that they know they're all from their parent who's away."