GREEN COVE SPRINGS – Christmas came early for hundreds of Clay County families who lined up at the agriculture fairgrounds last Saturday.

The annual J.P. Hall Children’s Charities Giving the Gift of Hope celebrated its 38th year Saturday and welcomed more than 1,500 families with free gifts ranging from dolls to action figures to bikes. No matter who you were – a family receiving a gift, a J.P. Hall volunteer or a Clay County Sheriff’s Office officer helping keep the peace – everyone had a smile on their.

“It’s all smiles here today,” CCSO officer Ed Kroh said. “No matter who you are today, you’re smiling because this event is such a great thing for the county.”

The premise was simple: line up, wait your turn and peruse tables and tables of toys categorized by age from which children can select a gift to take home as an early Christmas present. The event is open to all, no questions asked, but the goal is to help those families in need who might otherwise have a Christmas tree void of wrapped presents.

Lori Carlisle came with her five children and nephew to lighten the burden on her wallet. She gave birth to a child just three weeks ago and hasn’t been able to work as a result. Buying Christmas presents when you don’t have a job isn’t easy and the J.P. Hall party relieved some of the stress she anticipated this holiday.

“It’s a really awesome opportunity to ensure children get gifts for Christmas,” Carlisle said. “I have a lot of kids and I have a three-week-old and have been out of work, so I was a little worried about not being able to deliver on gifts this Christmas. No child should go through Christmas without a gift and this party helps ensure that doesn’t happen.”

Carlisle said she’s so thankful for the event that she hopes to volunteer next year to help families in the same situation as hers.

Carlisle’s 10-year-old, Daltyn King, was lucky enough to go home with a bike, as was her 7-year-old, Joshua Balcom. Both were able to pick out their bikes and they also received bike helmets.

“I picked this one out and it’s orange because I really like the color orange,” Balcom said.

King said he was excited to ride his new bike with his siblings. Families like Carlisle’s make working the event easy for J.P. Hall employees like Bruce Butler, who hasn’t missed but one party in the past 35 years. Butler and his entire family come out to help with the party and it’s one of their favorite things about the holiday season.

“There are underprivileged children here getting what might be the only gifts they get for Christmas and to see the joy on their faces, and to have a small hand in that, it’s so exciting,” Butler said.

Butler said the gifts come as donations or are purchased by J.P. Hall with monetary donations. Businesses and organizations around the county donate toys, bikes and more to ensure the party gets bigger every year.

“It really is all-hands-on-deck from the area when it’s time for this event,” Butler said. “It means so much to have so much community support, too. Without everyone here, it wouldn’t be possible.”

Butler said families wishing to partake are encouraged to be in line when the doors opened at 8 a.m., but some were already at the fairgrounds more than 11 hours in advance.

“The excitement and the need is palpable,” Butler said.

CCSO officers Kroh and Patrick Golemme volunteer for the party every year. It’s a way for them to help keep the peace, but more importantly, partake in the positivity of a job that usually sees the more negative sides of Clay County. Instead of handing out tickets, Kroh and Golemme get to hand out gifts to happy families.

“Our jobs deal with a lot of the negatives in Clay County and it’s nice to be on this side of things,” Golemme said. “There are only smiling faces here today.”

Golemme has been working the event since 1998 and plans to work it for many, many years to come.

“It’s one of my favorite shifts of the year,” he said.