NASHVILLE — Country-rap musician Jelly Roll is playing Santa Claus in Nashville.
The singer, whose real name is Jason DeFord, recently brought a tractor-trailer packed with toys to the Last Minute Toy Store in the Tennessee capital to help brighten Christmas for less fortunate children, according to store officials.
DeFord used a big rig that’s part of his tour, filling it with 10 pallets of toys and bikes. Last Minute Toy Store gives gifts, such as toys, gift cards, books and sports gear, to families who qualify.
Each year, the Last Minute Toy Store and the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office collect and distribute the gifts to families who are having financial difficulties.
In a Facebook post, Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said Jelly Roll is “changing music and lives.”
Jelly Roll visited two Nashville-area Walmarts to help collect toys for the Metro Nashville Police Department’s Christmas charities and the Nashville Fire Department, WSMV reported. It was called the largest toy drive in city history.
On Oct. 20, he appeared at the Franklin, Tennessee, Walmart reopening and collected a donation of $25,000 worth of toys, in partnership with Coca-Cola and Hasbro, for the drive. Then on Nov. 4, he appeared at Walmart in Antioch, where anyone who donated a new toy could get into the event for free, WSMV reported last month. Several stores in the area had donation bins earmarked for the drive.
The Last Minute Toy Store gave 7,000 kids a happy holiday last year, WZTV reported.
Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and raised in East Texas, John Worthen returned to his home state to attend college in 1998 and decided to make his life in The Natural State. Worthen is a 20-year veteran of the journalism industry and has covered just about every topic there is. He has a passion for writing and telling stories. He has worked as a beat reporter and bureau chief for a statewide newspaper and as managing editor of a regional newspaper in Arkansas. Additionally, Worthen has been a prolific freelance journalist for two decades, and has been published in several travel magazines and on travel websites.
That’s one solid dude right there! Bless him and all the kids that he helped. 💪