Christmas is just a week away and the Maysville Hands of Hope Community Care Center is doing a toy drive.

According to the founder of the organization Niccole Harris, the care center has partnered with STOBER and Dollar General (located on Kentucky 9 AA Highway toward Germantown) which are both collecting toy donations until Dec. 9.

“We’ve taken on about 100 kids this year which wasn’t a lot compared to last year,” Harris said.

The toys will be distributed to families who signed up (sign-up is now closed) on Dec. 17, at the care center. Harris said she hopes there will be enough for each child to receive three-four gifts though she won’t know the exact number before all donations have been collected.

“STOBER placed boxes in their break rooms and they have collected quite a bit through their own employees donating and Dollar General has been collecting for a few weeks,” she said.

Harris said those wishing to donate can also bring toys to the Maysville Hands of Hope Community Care Center located on Forest Avenue in downtown Maysville.

The care center has only been open for six weeks but Harris has been working toward the goal of opening the non-profit organization for almost three years.

The group started as a Facebook page almost three years ago called Maysville Free in Need, a page where people in Mason County and surrounding areas could post and/or claim needed items for free.

Over the last few years, the Facebook page grew and expanded, and Harris said she never saw it as a Facebook page to offer and receive free things but as a ministry and a way for the community to show love for each other as neighbors through the act of giving.

“My faith has always been my biggest motivation, I think God has shown me what it’s like not to have a lot to motivate me to do what I’m doing now and to want to give back to others,” she said.

More than a year ago Maysville Free in Need became Maysville Hands of Hope, a name change to clearly show the mission of what would eventually become the Maysville Hands of Hope Community Care Center.

“We’ve focused on helping people regain stability after taking hard hits in life, people who have lost everything in house fires, people starting over from homelessness or addiction. There’s people who lost loved ones to COVID and were left to struggle with finances on their own. I just always told myself that one day when I was able to, when I was on my own feet I would give back,” she said.

Harris is a woman of intense Christian faith and said she feels doing God’s work is a way of letting people see God through her, seeing God’s light through the work he’s doing through her.

“It makes me feel like people get hope through God, it makes me feel like my life is a vessel for God’s work. I don’t want to be looked at like I am the one who did anything, I just want to be seen as serving my purpose,” she said.

Harris and her husband, Josh Harris have three children who they have raised in their faith and Harris said through the care center her children get to witness God’s plans carried out.

“I think for a long time my kids didn’t understand why I was always so busy and they were resentful that I was busy,” she said.

Before the care center opened Harris kept all donations in a storage unit and was constantly on the go, picking up and dropping off donations and meeting people at the storage unit. Many times she would meet somebody with emergency needs late in the evening, she was busy from morning until night.

“Now that we have the care center they get to see for themselves, people giving each other hugs, people walking out with items they needed and didn’t have,” she said.

Harris said one time an older man walking with the support of a cane visited the care center to donate some old boots that still had plenty of wear left in them.

“We took the boots and didn’t think much of it, but then two minutes later a guy came in from River Outreach (a local faith-based homeless shelter and sobriety center) and said he just needed a pair of boots. The boots that were just donated were the exact size he needed. My kids got to witness that and I told them only God could’ve put that together, I couldn’t put that together or have known that was going to happen. So now they get to see things like that and it’s magic, to me it’s holy spirit magic,” she said.

Harris has hosted many events besides the current toy drive over the last few years — she has partnered with many non-profit organizations and local churches to do clothing drives and other events for those in need.

“We just had our winter clothing drive and I’m already planning the third annual Easter Eggstravaganza (spring clothing drive and fun family event),” she said.

The winter clothing drive served more than 600 people and had many local organizations with booths set up that handed out information on their own organizations as well as items to keep warm, thermoses, blankets, baby items and more.

Harris said before opening the care center, between the events and the constant activity of picking up and dropping off donations she was getting worn down and was on the point of walking away from Maysville Hands of Hope. She said there’s no doubt in her mind her faith and God carried her through.

She said she asked God for a sign to let her know if it was time to slow down and possibly let the idea of running a non-profit organization go. Not three days later she received a text message offering her the location where the center currently stands, she said she saw that message as God’s intervention and a calling to continue her work.

Harris said Tuesday-Friday when the care center is only open an hour a day (Saturday the hours are longer) they serve as many as 20-50 people in that one hour. She said the response from the community and all of the support the care center has received proves faith and God brought everything together.

“When I get there people are literally lined up waiting for it (the care center) to open, I think it speaks volumes. People really have just poured into this mission and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and so many people are helped,” she said.

Harris said she’s grateful to now have a warm, safe place to serve the community and where those in need can find help and hope.