ODOC employees deliver Christmas gifts to local kids
HODGEN, Okla. (KFOR) - Employees from Jim E. Hamilton Correctional Center delivered joy to kids in southeast Oklahoma.
According to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, staff members have been collecting donations and buying Christmas presents for students this year.
“We had a little girl last year who cried,” Warden Randy Harding said. “You mean I get to keep this?”
This year, the staff hand-delivered the gifts, including bicycles and Samsung tablets, to students in the Hodgen, Heavener, Wister and Howe school districts.
The students from each school were chosen by their teachers for their wonderful behavior.
“Anyone that’s involved with our kids to make sure they have the best education possible, not only through bookwork but making sure their Christmas is great, that’s a great partnership to have in my mind,” Hodgen School Superintendent Dennis Shoup said.
The employees at Jim E. Hamilton are also holding a coat drive for children in southeast Oklahoma. In 2022, they gathered and donated more than 100 coats to children in need.