Pinellas Tax Collector Employees Turn Into Toy Collectors For Holiday

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — The Pinellas County Tax Collector offices have been busy spreading holiday joy to children.

Tax Collector Charles W. Thomas, along with members of his team, met at the R'Club Child Care administration building in St. Petersburg on Dec. 14, to drop off gift donations for local children in need. The Toy Collector initiative allowed 59 children to receive items from their holiday wish lists.

Since 1976, R'Club has been providing Pinellas County with accessible and affordable child care, serving more than 4,000 children in Pinellas County every day.

"I am always proud of my team's dedication to serving Pinellas, especially when they take that spirit of service beyond our offices," said Thomas."Our focus as an organization is to put the community first, and bringing some holiday cheer to the R'Club kids is something we look forward to doing every year."

Sara Lakin from the North County tax collector's office had the idea to partner with R'Club in 2020 and it quickly spread through the organization.

This year, she started planning in July by determining how many children they could help. By November she had a list of kids in need, along with each child's interests to assist with gift ideas.

"It seems each year, I am asked earlier and earlier by the employees if we will be participating in the Toy Collector initiative," Lakin said. "It is always wonderful to see people getting together and planning what they want to get the children. This year, hearing that other offices wanted to help really made me excited and even more proud of where I work."