Copperas Cove boy collecting for stockings for nursing home residents

By BRITTANY FHOLER 

Cove Leader-Press 

This year, the only thing eight-year-old Liam Mastin wants for Christmas is to help others. 

With the help of his cousin, Destiny Mastin, 14, and his grandmother, Kimberly Simmons, Mastin has set out to put together Christmas stockings for all 232 residents in all three of Copperas Cove’s nursing homes and assisted living centers. 

Simmons has raised Liam since he was an infant with his brothers. Her husband, Alvin Simmons, was her partner in life and was called “Pop” by the grandkids. He died of a heart attack in October 2018. Simmons described him as a very giving person and very Christian. 

“Pop would always go out of his way to give to others,” Simmons said. “That’s what we told them [the kids], that we’d rather give than receive.”

At Thanksgiving and Christmas in the past, the family would take bowls of food to the homeless in their community. They would see these people at the grocery store and Liam would buy a Gatorade and a sub sandwich for one of the men in particular, instead of an ice cream for himself. Simmons said that Liam gets his giving nature from his Pop. 

This year, Liam was sitting around and watching a program when a commercial for Toys for Tots came on. 

“He said, ‘What about the old people?’” Simmons said. “He said to me, ‘You’re old. What are you going to get now that Pop’s gone?’ and I said, ‘Memories from you kids.’”

Later on, when they drove by the Copperas Cove Nursing and Rehab Center, on W. Ave. B, on their way to and from home, Liam would notice the elderly residents sitting outside alone and asked about them and their families and what the residents would be getting for Christmas. 

When Simmons couldn’t answer, Liam came up with an idea. 

“He said, ‘Well, I don’t want Christmas this year,’” Simmons said. “He says, ‘I’d rather buy them something for Christmas.’ So that’s how it all got started.” 

Destiny and Liam began talking about what to make and eventually came up with the idea of going to Dollar Tree and buying a stocking, a stuffed animal, a candy cane and a pair of socks to put together stockings for the residents of the three nursing homes in Copperas Cove. 

Simmons contacted each nursing home and found out there’s 287 residents total among the Copperas Cove Nursing and Rehab Center, the Hill Country Rehabilitation and Nursing Center and Stoney Brook of Copperas Cove- Assisted Living and Memory Care. 

“So, Liam’s goal is to see if people will help us gather up little things, all from Dollar Tree. No one has to go out of their way and spend a lot, because he feels if we can buy a cup of coffee, we can buy a Christmas stocking, and that’s what he wants to do,” Simmons said. “His goal is to make sure on Christmas Eve at the three nursing homes, everybody has something.”

Simmons said she understands, especially now after the loss of her husband, how lonely it can be around the holidays. She and the kids want to help make the nursing home residents feel just a little bit less lonely this holiday season. 

Simmons said they are also looking for people who would be interested in helping make cards for all the residents as well as sugar-free cookies, so that the residents have something homemade and meaningful to enjoy. 

The Copperas Cove Leader-Press office located in Suite 1 at 2210 E. Bus. 190, across from Shipley Donuts, will act a drop-off location for stockings and items until December 21, 2019 when Simmons, Liam and Destiny will collect the items and put together the stockings to deliver to each nursing home in time for Christmas. 

For more information, Simmons can be reached through email at kimberlynn_simmons69@outlook.com. 

UPDATE: The total number of residents is 232.