Community volunteer Jamie Graham, left, and Gulfport Energy director of fieldland Brett Marlow help families collect gifts at the annual Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots event at First Presbyterian Church in St. Clairsville.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Ohio Oil and Gas Association, Gulfport Energy, EQT, Halo Land Management, and the Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots program teamed up for its annual collaboration with Toys for Tots at First Presbyterian Church on Monday.

Ohio Oil and Gas Association director of external affairs Mike Chadsey said that the event has taken place for the past 12 years and each year has grown.

He added that, this year, more than $75,000 was raised by the association to provide toys for the community.

“Collectively we raised a little over $75,000 and that will cover toys for Belmont, Monroe, Jefferson, Harrison, Carroll, Noble, Guernsey, and Columbiana counties,” Chadsey said. “So what we do is we have boxes filled with toys, there’s a truck out front. We just unload them, sort them, and provide for the families. What doesn’t get selected goes back into the boxes, back on the truck, and goes to the next county.”

He added that Gulfport plays a huge factor in making the collaboration happen each year.

“They’re in the community to produce oil and gas, but every time we call them with a request, they just jump at the opportunity,” Chadsey said. “They have big checkbooks, but bigger hearts, and that’s just what these guys are all about. And for us as the oil and gas industry, I feel that we’re blessed to be a blessing, and we’re just happy to be part of the community that we operate in.”

Gulfport Energy director of fieldland Brett Marlow added that he believes that the event is a great opportunity to show the compassionate side of the local gas and oil companies during the holiday season.

“This is a spectacular event that OOGA leads the charge on for the oil and gas companies to come together and bring fellowship to needy families,” Marlow said. “It’s such a worthy cause that we all collaboratively get involved, and put our money, time, and efforts together.”

He added that the collaboration brings a lot of fellowship to the oil and gas industry during the holiday season.

“A lot of industry leaders in this area come together with a push to bring joy to families at Christmas,” Marlow said.

Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots local coordinating officer Deborah Oberlin added that the point of the initiative is to make kids who are in need happy during the holiday season.

“The good folks in the oil and gas industry have helped make this possible, in addition to community donations,” Oberlin said. “This is our last push, trying to get the Christmas toys out to the kids.”

She added that she wouldn’t be able to make this incentive possible without the local oil and gas companies.

Oberlin said that she believes it is very important, because they’re not only giving out toys, but giving hope.

“The way we do it is we love to let the families shop. Because we don’t know if the kids have disabilities, or the family dynamics, so we really like to get the families involved and let them shop so they can be a part of the whole holiday season,” she said. “It means more to the parents when they see the joy on their kids’ faces.”