December 16, 2022
By: Dwayne Page
Having a gift to unwrap on Christmas may seem trivial, but it may be the only gift some children receive all year. To each of them, it means the world.
Thanks to RealSourceTitle Insurance and Real Estate Closings, through its Circle of Love project, 157 DeKalb County School aged children will have a gift this Christmas.
Since 2004, The Circle of Love has held its annual community-wide toy drive for children at risk of being overlooked during the holidays in the state’s served by RealSource. Circle of Love was introduced in Smithville two years ago when RealSource expanded into Tennessee.
“This is our 19th annual across our business but our second in Tennessee. We were sponsored this year by some of our local businesses. We asked for unwrapped new gifts we could give to kids. This year we sponsored 157 DeKalb County children,” said Katie Harris, RealSource Office Manager in Smithville.
The Circle of Love Foundation was founded by Alabama entrepreneur and philanthropist Doris Phillips, who is also the owner of the organization’s sponsoring company, RealSource Title Insurance and Real Estate Closings.
Through its members’ and many volunteers’ tireless work, and unparalleled passion for giving back to the future’s next great leaders, The Circle of Love has touched the lives of more than 5,500 children who would have otherwise gone without gifts on Christmas morning, or the most basic school supplies, like backpacks, pencils and paper, on the first day of school. Over the years, RealSource and Circle of Love has raised more than $825,000 in gifts and supplies in the states it serves.
“Ours is unique because our list comes from the teachers at our local schools,” said Loni Easterwood, RealSource Closing Specialist. “Once the teachers have identified the children in need we have a form that goes home with that child. The parent fills out the information and if they have siblings, they get gifts too. We are not just supplying the child on the list from the teacher we are also supplying their siblings as well because its not fair for one child to have new items for Christmas and the siblings not have that same luxury,” said Easterwood.
Once all the donations are in, the parents are contacted to come pick up the bags of gifts for their children. Older aged children are also provided with a care packet of hygiene items such as body wash, deodorant, tooth paste, tooth brushes, etc.
“Its really about making sure everybody has what they need and doing it for the whole family and we love doing it. I wish we could see the look on these kids’ faces when they get all these items,” added Easterwood.
If you would like to support the future donation collection efforts of RealSource and Circle of Love visit www.circleoflove.org
RealSource is a title insurance and real estate closing company serving Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Michigan, and Tennessee. The Smithville RealSource office opened in October 2020 in the heart of downtown at 404 W. Public Square.