The temporary offices set up at a former clothing boutique on Commerce Street is not Santa’s workshop, and the workers there are not Santa’s helpers.

But judging by the stock room filled with toys and games and the good cheer spread throughout the community by volunteers of the St. Vincent de Paul Society from St. Anne Catholic Church, it’s easy to get caught up in the holiday spirit.

For the past several weeks, St. Vincent volunteers, including Brandy Cheatum, who heads up the program, have been gathering donated toys and clothes as part of the ministry’s annual Giving Tree program.

The purpose of the program is to provide toys and clothes to needy children in the Tomball community. Until last week, St. Vincent set up shop at an empty store on Commerce Street where families signed up for assistance. By the middle of last week, more than 320 families had signed up, Cheatum said.

Pictured, Brandy Cheatum stocks toys at the St. Vincent de Paul Giving Tree office in Tomball.

While sign ups have ended, the work for Cheatum and the rest of the St. Vincent volunteers’ work is just beginning. Through Dec. 15, St. Vincent is holding a toy drive throughout Tomball and has placed several donation bins at local stores and banks where those who wish to do so can drop off new toys and clothes.

In addition, dozens of coin collection cans have been placed in stores around town to help raise funds to pay for clothes and toys for local families in need.

With the national economy still in the doldrums, Cheatum said many more families are signing up for assistance than in years past.

“We’re seeing clients that used to be donors,” she said. “I had a middle class mother in here, horrified. She was crying, saying ‘This is not what my children are used to.’”

What’s even more telling are the items many families are making requests for. Where in years past most families would ask for specific types of toys for their children, parents are now asking for basic essentials such as socks, underwear, jackets and blankets.

“The items people are asking for are so basic,” Cheatum said.

The goal of the program this year, she added, is to provide each family who signs up with at least one new outfit and one toy per child, per family. However, also chipping in this year is the Toys for Tots program, who will sponsor and provide a toy for 500 children whose parents sign them up.

St. Vincent will also give 200 bicycles to local children as part of an ongoing partnership with Academy of Tomball.

Cheatum added that with so many families down on their luck, and so many local charities providing similar assistance as St. Vincent, precautions are being taken to make sure families are not taking advantage of the area’s charitable efforts.

St. Vincent has partnered with Tomball Emergency Assistance Ministries, Society of Samaritans, Waller Area Restoration Ministries and Cypress Assistance Ministries to cross-check their registration lists to ensure families have not registered at more than one location.

Cheatum explained that those efforts are a way “to make sure people who really need the help are getting help and not just working the system.”

In order to help raise money for this year’s Giving Tree program, St. Vincent is holding a raffle drawing in which four winners will receive either a 40-inch LCD television, a laptop computer, a GPS navigation system or a digital camera.

For more information about the Giving Tree program, to make a donation, request a toy drop box or purchase a raffle ticket, call Cheatum at 832-488-7710 or e-mail her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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