Toy Drive helps ring in the season
<span>The Chester High School football team, in collaboration with Chester Grade School, held its annual Toy Drive at Chester Walmart on Wednesday.</span>
<span>According to event co-organizer Amy Eggemeyer, nearly $6,000 was spent to buy Christmas gifts for 138 elementary children of need in the Chester school district.</span>
<span>"It's just really special and important," Eggemeyer said. "I feel like it's one of the most important parts of my job as school nurse, to make sure that these kids are taken care of and provided for and make sure they have a merry Christmas."</span>
<span>Eggemeyer, who is the nurse at Chester Grade School, has young children herself.</span>
<span>"It makes me feel very blessed for what I have and makes me want to pay it forward that much more," she said.</span>
<span>The Toy Drive has become one of the football team's traditions and was started in 2008 by former coach Bryan Lee, now at Carbondale Community High School.</span>
<span>"Coach Lee started this with us," Eggemeyer said. "I had kinda overheard him talking about in the office and they were looking for a place to donate the toys.</span>
<span>"Me and him started talking about it and put it together and each year it seems like it grows."</span>
<span>Along with Soup Game, the Toy Drive is a community involvement initiative representatives from each class of students (freshmen through senior) get to participate in.</span>
<span> "This is part of the certain steps to take to show high school kids what it's like to give back to those who are less fortunate and may not have a big Christmas," said Chester football coach Jeremy Blechle, who also has grade school-age children. "Show them that that is the reason for the season, to give - not just to want and to receive."</span>
<span>Blechle said he wants his players to understand that "community is key" with initiatives like the Toy Drive.</span>
<span>"It's isn't just the football team," he said. "It isn't just if you're a senior or a freshman. The bigger picture is the people who buy tickets to come watch you perform, the teachers who teach inside the classroom, parents that helped raise you, it's all for the bigger picture."</span>
<span>Blechle noted the Toy Drive is one way the players "can pay it back."</span>
<span>"This is one way you can pay that (support) back," he said. "Even though it is directly affecting elementary kids, on the whole picture, it shows the players that they have to know that accountability and responsibility are two key things."</span>
<span>Eggemeyer later added that the school's "Kids First" Christmas program raised $1,080 this year to go toward gift cards for high school students in need.</span>
<span>"I think we have a great community also as far as support," she said. "We wouldn't be able to do what we do without the support of our community and I'm proud to say I'm from Chester for what we do in giving back."</span>