Even Santa's sleigh would have a tough time holding all the toys Fulton Public Schools collected for Toys for Tots.
The 9,215 toys students rounded up packed a school bus, trailer and car. They'll also help fill the space left empty when thieves stole 12 boxes of toys from the charity in October.
"We heard about the theft on the radio," said Meadow Langstrum, vice president of Fulton's National Honor Society. "We felt the need to do something since we're fortunate enough to get toys on Christmas."
In late October, 12 boxes of Toys for Tots toys went missing from a storage locker unit on North U.S. Business 54 near Fulton. The toys had been destined for distribution to more than 6,000 needy children throughout Mid-Missouri.
Area coordinator Melissa Barnes was distraught.
"I want them found," she said at the time.
The toys haven't turned up.
But since then, the community has stepped up. The Fulton VFW, Callaway Senior Center and other local organizations started drives in early November, as did Fulton Public Schools.
"It was a combination of a lot of students in the high school, the National Honor Society and chamber singers bouncing ideas off each other, and it sort of grew from there," FPS Activities Director Ryan Waters said.
Each school in the system competed to collect the most toys. Other districts got involved, too: New Bloomfield, North Callaway, South Callaway and Mexico. (The total listed above includes the toys from North Callaway and New Bloomfield, but not South Callaway and Mexico.)
At Fulton High School, students in the Fab Lab worked on creating a fabulous trophy for the winning school.
"It's wooden and engraved with 'Toys for Tots,'" NHS Vice President Grace Riley said.
She said it's shaped like a jack-in-the-box, with different characters - including Snoopy and, appropriately, Max from "The Grinch who Stole Christmas" - on each side.
The trophy's winner will be announced at halftime during tonight's basketball game in Fulton High School.
But in the end, the true winners are the children - both those who collected the toys and those who will receive them.
"It's very heart-warming and so awesome," said Karen Snethen, community relations spokesperson at FPS.
Snethen tagged along with the drama and NHS students as they visited each school Thursday, gathering the toys. Afterward, the whole group headed off for a victory lunch.
"We have a happy bunch of kids here," she added.