VIDALIA, Ga. — Santa’s elves come in many shapes and sizes. If you travel down I-16, you’ll meet a jolly lawyer who is helping the man with the bag in giving kids a merry Christmas.
It all goes down in a blue non-descript warehouse in Vidalia. It was an old beer warehouse used to distribute Budweiser through the area.
Frank Smith surveys the stock.
“Earphones...all kinds gotta have earphones,” said Smith.
The guy, who wears a suit and tie, doubles as one of Santa’s helpers this time of year.
“Kids don't seem to remember what a board game is, but we went all out to get a lot of those,” said Smith.
He did receive donations, but he spent a good chunk of his own money to gather up toys for kids. Over 500 children in Toombs County will get gifts, including a new bicycle for each one.
“They're going to get t-shirts, hoodies, socks, a Bible. They're going to get one board game of one sort or another,” said Smith.
He grew up in the area. He first became a meat cutter and then a lawyer. He says he does pretty good for himself, but he never forgot those childhood Christmases where his parents really struggled.
“My parents were poor working people,” he said. “It was always a strain on them you can tell parents… they're going to make a Christmas [even] if they have to go hungry.”
Smith doesn’t want that to happen. In fact, he went so far to buy out four Frank’s discount stores. He bought toys, school supplies, and even the shelving.
“We came in and they were going out of business and I knew they had the discounts and I'm a cheap skate and I said, ‘Well you can cut it a little more if I buy everything,’” he recalled.
So now Santa will have a full sleigh when he swings through the South. Just don’t ask the lawyer to wrap presents.
“I’m a guy, so I'm not very good at it,” he admitted.
He identified the kids by going through the Toombs County School System. His program is called Bikes for Kids.
Two days before Christmas, parents will show up at the warehouse and pick up the gifts to put under the tree.
Smith says he has about 20 volunteers that have helped him get all of it together this season.
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