By STEPHANIE BRUMFIELD / Staff Writer

MONTEVALLO – The Boys and Girls Club of Montevallo recently received an unexpected honor. After being named a Joy Maker Ambassador Club by GenerationOn, a global youth service organization dedicated to helping kids “make their mark on the world,” they were given 100 Hasbro toys to distribute to community organizations of their choosing.

As a Joy Maker Ambassador Club, the Boys and Girls Club is charged with serving and bringing joy to the community during the month of December. Their first project was delivering the 100 toys, which they did on Nov. 26.

“They chose who to donate the toys to,” said Freda Shivers, executive director of the club, which serves elementary and middle school age students. “They chose to split the toys between Montevallo Elementary and Montevallo Middle School’s Angel Trees and Project Christmas at Shelby Emergency Assistance.”

Both the Angel Trees and Project Christmas help provide toys and other items to children in need for the holidays, Shivers said.

“It was a really good exercise for the kids,” Shivers said. “We worked in a little bit of math distributing the toys and trying to be fair, and thinking about what kinds of children each organization served.”

For instance, the group was given nine Playskool Lullaby Gloworms to distribute, and Shivers said the kids discussed how elementary and middle school age students wouldn’t want a Glowworm, which is made for infants. So the kids donated all nine Glowworms to Shelby Emergency Assistance.

Other donated items include Monopoly, Scrabble, Bop It XT, My Little Ponies, FurReal Friends Dress Me Pets and Nerf footballs, Shivers said. The group gave 51 toys to Shelby Emergency Assistance and split the rest between the two Angel Trees.

Shivers said it was a joy to watch the project unfold because many of the Boys and Girls Club members often receive assistance themselves.

One club member, when asked what he liked about the project, told Shivers, “A lot of people have helped my family, and it’s nice to give back.”

Shivers said the club members may be young and small, but they can still give back.

“If we can teach them that at a young age, they really can change the world,” she said. “Or at least our little corner of it.”