These are your #LocalHeroes — ordinary people doing extraordinary things in Sweetwater County. This SweetwaterNOW series highlights those often unnoticed acts of kindness to the incredible actions of many in our community.

Christmas hasn’t always been a joyful time of the year for Kelly Souther. In fact, for quite some time it was more of a burden.

When working as a mailman during the holiday season, the spirit of Christmas that once burned in Souther’s heart had disappeared each festive season. In his own words, “that time of year sucked the life out of me.”

Eventually Souther came to the conclusion that he needed to find the joy in Christmas again for the sake of his family. He knew he had to change.

“Being raised by a single mom who did everything she could to make Christmas good, there was a lot of lean years and I remember that feeling of being happy with whatever we got,” South said. “I decided to help raise money through social media to buy as many toys as we could to give to our real heroes, the firefighters, who organize and make Christmas happen for thousands of kids each year.”

Thus was born the Ninja Mailman Toy Drive, and it’s become a Souther family effort over the past 10 years to bring toys to kids in need.

Souther collects the donations, purchases as many toys as possible with the money and gives them to the Rock Springs firefighters who then distribute the toys to the community.

The first two years of the toy drive brought in a few donations from Souther’s efforts on social media. A few years later, he partnered with Elshya Cook in Green River to expand his fundraising efforts. In total, Souther estimates the toy drive has raised around $25,000 since he first started, which in return has helped thousands of kids in the community over the years.

“We have received donations from all over the world and having a wonderful family and thousands of friends that never get tired of me asking for money,” Souther said.

Souther noted that throughout his years of doing the toy drive, he has gained new friends and found the joy he was once missing.

“I always make an effort to show that the real heroes of this event each year are the Rock Springs firefighters who have the mammoth task of collecting and sorting truck loads of toys and making little hearts happy,” Souther added.

If there’s one thing we can learn from Souther, it’s that getting involved and changing yourself can sometimes be just what the world and yourself needs.

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