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The holiday season sees many annual charitable traditions in Harlan County, ranging from toy drives to food basket deliveries. The Cranks Creek Survival Center has been doing their Christmas food and toy giveaway for decades, and will repeat the activity again this year.
Cranks Creek Survival Center Director Bobby Rowlett provided some information on the Survival Center and this year’s giveaway during a recent interview.
“The Survival Center started in 1977 when the big flood hit,” Rowlett said. “My grandparents started reaching out to churches and organizations to find donations for people in need and it eventually evolved into pushing for regulations for strip mining. They raised quite a bit of money for the county and people in need.”
Rowlett explained that the Christmas giveaway is the only aspect of the Survival Center’s operations to remain. He mentioned the Christmas giveaway continues in honor of his grandparents, Bobby and Becky Simpson.
“My grandmother, Becky, passed in 2013 and my grandfather passed last year (2023),” Rowlett said. “I keep this going for them and the people in Harlan.”
This year’s giveaway will occur on the Sunday before Christmas at 306 Carter Avenue, Loyall, Ky.
“It’s going to be at the old Loyall School (currently Loyall City Hall) and it’s going to start at 7 a.m.,” Rowlett said. “We’re mainly going to have food and toys for the kids.”
Rowlett said the folks at Loyall City Hall have been a lot of assistance.
“They help us out quite a bit,” Rowlett said. “It was super organized last year. We were able to handle approximately 520 families. It was super-efficient, people don’t have to wait overnight anymore…We get people in and out, get them what they need and get them back to spending time with their families.”
The giveaway will start at 7 a.m. and continue until all the supplies are exhausted or people are no longer waiting. Last year’s giveaway started at 7 a.m. and ended at 10 a.m.
“We have a bigger budget this year,” Rowlett said. “I think the actual number we can handle this year is probably around 700 families.”