The employees of Dongwon Autopart Alabama conducted a fund raiser and food drive to help the needy of the community.

The employees felt very fortunate to have their jobs and wanted to help those who are much less fortunate this Christmas season.

They felt the need to experience the true meaning of Christmas — giving.

In their fund raising, they had a bake sale and raffled off a custom stag horn bowie knife made by Bill Faulk, and the QC department purchased a $50 Wal-Mart gift card to raffle off. Also, the team members donated money as well from each line.

Together, the employees raised $556.50. The employees asked the company to match this, and they did.

The Korean managers got together and donated $260, and the company donated $300, which gave a total of $1,116.50.

The employees also collected can goods and food items from the team members as well as Toys for Tots.

Some 325 food items and 115 toys were collected at the plant from team members.

$130 of the collected money was used to buy additional food items and the remaining money was spent on Toys for Tots.

Big Lots in Montgomery gave the employees a 10 percent discount on the Toys for Tots that we purchased there.

The totals delivered to Crenshaw County DHR on Dec. 10 were 513 food items and 227 toys.

The winners of the raffles were Gina Osborne for the $50 gift card and Antonio Stringer for the custom Bowie knife.

Dongwon and its employees are extremely happy that they will have helped to fill many hungry stomachs and brought smiles and joy to the faces of many needy children in the community this Christmas season.

This is the company’s third year of donating Toys for Tots and food, and it is the biggest year so far.

Their goal is to increase this number each year as the family of employees at Dongwon and the company give back to the community of which they are so proud to be a part of in Crenshaw County.