This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories.

And it's Christmas season, so we're telling Christmas stories. In 1975,

the Christmas store was founded and has been giving out presents to those in need ever since.

Jonathan Maddox of the Oxford Ole Miss Rotary Club is co-chairman of the Christmas store,

and he's here to share this beautiful annual event that

happens right here in our small, beautiful town of Oxford, Mississippi, about an hour south of Memphis.

Here's Jonathan.

The Christmas store is a community-based volunteer organization that gives toys to children in our community who otherwise might not have anything for Christmas.

In 2007, when the Rotary Club of Oxford Ole Miss was forming and looking for a signature project,

the Christmas store seemed like a good place for us to plug in and volunteer.

I joined the Rotary Club because I wanted to be

able to make a difference. And so when this project was brought to the club's attention,

everyone really thought this was a great chance for us to really give back to those in our community.

Little do we know at the time that we would be taking over the Christmas store.

And for the past 14 years, we have been the stewards of this annual event.

For years before, our involvement in the Christmas store,

people would shop throughout the year and just amass a big pile of toys,

and it truly was a store.

And families were invited to come in

and select a couple of toys for each of their children.

When we became involved in the store,

...