🎄 Ed Oliver Jr's Annual Toy Giveaway Brings Joy to Local Families! 🎁

Next weekend, Holy Ghost Catholic Church will be full of Christmas cheer as the Ed Oliver, Jr. Annual Toy Giveaway gets underway.

Ed Oliver, a native of Houston with deep roots in Marksville, is currently the defensive tackle for the NFL Buffalo Bills. His desire has always been to give back and especially in Avoyelles where he feels the impact would be great.

Oliver was drafted in the first round by the Bills in 2019 and since then, along with outstanding play on the field, has always made time for giving back.

Alayna Lee, Oliver’s first cousin and also originally of Marksville, currently living in Lafayette, has been the coordinator for Oliver’s local generous acts of charity.

With a degree in marketing and public relations from Xavier University in New Orleans, Alayna had all the skills it took to make her cousin’s ideas come to life.

“He came to me and said that he wanted to do this but he needed my help,” Alayna recalled.

Oliver sponsors two events in Marksville, a Thanksgiving meal and a toy giveaway at Christmas.

The first event Oliver funded was the toy giveaway. According to Alayna, it started as a drive-thru because it was 2020, the pandemic year. Because of being well-organized with lots of help, the giveaway has remained a drive thru and is done highly efficiently.

“We are a very close and large family,” Alayna said. That ‘large family’ includes the Olivers, Lees, Ravares, as well as close family friends to help with the events.

“The first thing we always do is have a meeting, find out the budget and decide what we want to do.”

She remarked how she has the fun job of ordering all the toys, which has practically doubled since the first toy giveaway.

The event begins at 10 a.m. and ends at 12 noon but “we have people lining up by 8:00.”

The line starts on Mark Street, turns into the drive in front of the Holy Ghost gym and goes left out to Preston. After so many years, the event has taken on a life of its own and flows.

“We divide the toys in age groups besides boys and girls. There’s 3-5 years, 6-8 years and 9-12 years.”

Alayna said, “boys are easy, you can give them monster trucks, nerf guns, basketballs and footballs.

“The harder age is girls 9-12 because 12 year old girls today don’t want what I played with when I was 12, which was a Barbie doll.”

This is where input from family comes in, “they help choose,” Alayna said.

No matter what the toys end up being, no matter what the kids receive, Alayna said “they are always so grateful, and, no, there are no complaints.”

This year’s Thanksgiving meal for senior citizens included a surprise when Oliver showed up. Unfortunately he was injured recently in a game and was nursing a torn bicep. So he had time off.

“He snuck in,” Alayna said, “he was surprised and said he couldn’t believe all these people came.”

There were 350 who attended the Thanksgiving meal this year. Included in Oliver’s meal were very lavish door and bingo prizes.

“We were brought up to give back and that’s what “EJ” (Ed’s family nickname) is doing. Our grandmother, Virginia Oliver, a strong woman and a Christian, always taught us the blessings we receive are the blessing we give back.