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Premier Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Troy and the Salvation Army of Troy have partnered for a Holiday Toy Drive to bring a smile to the faces of children in the Pike County community.

Through Dec. 19, Premier will match every toy donated to the toy drive to give away to children in the community in an effort to double the impact and spread even more joy this holiday season.

“We’re very blessed and we wanted to be able to give back and be able to help anybody that maybe doesn’t have a chance to open a toy or someone that was able to open a toy to have a chance to have another one,” Premier Chief Operating Officer Scott Anderson said. “We felt like this was a way we could help the community in some small way. That’s our motivation behind it. We called around to five or six different places to see who did something like that.

“We found the Salvation Army – with their Angel Tree program – and they brought us baskets to collect the toys in. Partnering with the Salvation Army gave us a good footprint to go with it.”

The idea for the toy drive came from Premier President and CEO Jesse Liechty’s wife and Liechty said they plan to do the toy drive annually moving forward.

“The community supports us, so we wanted to support the community,” Liechty said. “That’s the biggest thing. We’re just glad we could help support the families in this community.”

Liecthy – who just took over Premier Dodge earlier this year – and Anderson emphasized that this toy drive was simply about helping the community.

“We didn’t put out something where you can come by and get a car from us and put a toy in and we’ll give you $700 off,” said Anderson. “We’re just going to match toy-for-toy, above and beyond, any toy that’s donated. We want to be able to make sure everyone has a chance to open a toy and bring a smile to kittle kids and teenagers.

“You never know what kind of situation someone is in. We just wanted to be a part of that and a big part of this community, because we just got here and we wanted to show everyone who we are.”

Premier Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram is located at 113 U.S. Highway 231 North in Troy.