After 42 years on the job, Bill Christian will retire from Columbia Pipeline Group next year. He helps control the flow of gas over much of the Eastern United States, but most of his co-workers had one concern when they heard of his departure.
"The only question they ask me when [they hear] I'm leaving is, 'Who's gonna do the toy drive?' " Christian said.
In addition to his job responsibilities, Christian has been in charge of the company's annual Christmas toy drive since it began 30 years ago. Over that time, it's grown from helping about 30 children to providing a Christmas to between 400 and 500 children, giving dozens of gift bags to seniors in need and to providing meals to about 200 hungry children in Eastern Kanawha County.
The toy drive actually started 35 years ago, with Christian's mother, Ann, who was a social worker for a health clinic in Cabin Creek. One Christmas during her home visits, she saw that some families didn't have food or presents. So she enlisted the help of her son, his grandmother and others and they took presents - including some intended for Christian's own daughter - to give to the families.
The efforts have grown from there, with Columbia employees getting involved a few years later. It's not limited to employees in the company's Charleston office: Columbia has offices in 16 states.
"I've gotten checks or boxes of toys from every state, and every senior executive gives," Christian said.
There's a golf outing, a fishing tournament and raffles to help raise money.
"We just do whatever it takes, and it's really cool," he said.
Christian works with the nonprofit group Mustard Seed, in East Bank, to get the presents to families. Children are recommended by the United Way's Christmas Bureau.
As Mustard Seed's only worker, Betty Bannister has been in charge of organizing the toys "for too many years," she said.
A room in a house in East Bank is filled to the brim with the toys, and it will be until they're picked up at an event later this week. Several other churches and groups help with the drive, providing food for families and helping pass out the toys.
Bannister, originally of Massachusetts, started worked with Mustard Seed in 1985. She said she's worked with the toy drive for so long because of the people.
"I fell in love with the people of West Virginia," she said. "You get to know the people. They're proud people. They're good people."
Christian's co-worker, Amanda Boyko, has been helping out with the toy drive for four years. She helps shop for kids, helps organize a raffle and helps with the meals for students portion of the drive. Two hundred elementary school students will be given packs filled with enough food for three meals a day for five days. The food is meant to feed children during the time they're out of class and, thus, without school meals.
"You couldn't ask for a better person than Bill," Boyko said. "He gives personally out of his own pocket. He's a wonderful person."
Christian started work at Columbia the same day he graduated from high school. His first job for the company was laying pipe for gas line.
"I was in the ditch that morning and got my diploma that night," he said.
He also worked for a time on the company's drilling rigs at Kellys Creek. Christian said he feels blessed never to have worked for any other companies but Columbia. He grew up in an old coal company house in Laing, near the head of Cabin Creek.
"To get on at Columbia - to stay out of the coal mines - was truly a blessing," he said. "And I've never missed a day's pay in 42 years. Columbia's absolutely been a great company."
Christian has mixed feelings about leaving. He'll miss the people he works with, he said. He's not sure what he'll do with his time. He likes to do a lot of things - read, play golf - but he's "not crazy about anything," he said.
"It's nice, after 42 years, to have options," Christian said.
As for the toy drive, so far no one was has stepped forward to head it up.
"Nobody's dumb enough to," he joked.
Boyko said that whoever takes over will have big shoes to fill, but employees are committed to seeing the toy drive continue.
And while not working in the building anymore will make it more challenging, Christian said he plans to keep involved.
"You can't just walk away," he said. "You gotta do something."
Reach Lori Kersey at Lori.Kersey@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1240 or follow @LoriKerseyWV on Twitter.