COLUMBUS — Organized chaos.
That’s how Columbus firefighter and Columbus Firemen’s Cheer Fund Co-chairman Cory Hampton described Saturday’s 89th delivery day.
With a temporary headquarters in FairOaks Mall, as well as no overhead protection for cardboard gift boxes, long-time volunteers such as Mike Jaggers worried about the rain that was still falling an hour before deliveries began.
Jaggers, who lives in Columbus, said he remembered last year how steady and cold precipitation hampered deliveries for many volunteers
“If the boxes get a little bit wet, they just fall apart as you pick them up,” Jaggers said. “It’s hard to carry them, especially up a flight of stairs, when they get all wet and flimsy.”
But to everyone’s delight, the rain stopped less than an hour before the 8 a.m. deliveries got underway outside the former JC Penney store.
With an abundance of volunteers inside and outside, the last gift box was delivered at 9:44 a.m. — just a little over an hour-and-a-half after the first box was picked up.
Although nobody is sure that’s a record, organizers say it is the fastest delivery day that they can remember.
For more on this story, including more photos, see Monday’s Republic.
