The past two years, patrons at Cole’s Corner Tap enjoyed donating hundreds of toys to Operation Sleighbell, a church-based organization that provides low-cost shopping at Christmastime.

But, suddenly, the tavern can’t help this season. Thursday, owner Dixie Cole was told the rules had changed in Peoria: no contributions from bars.

“I thought it was insane,” says Cole, who for seven years has owned the shot-and-beer saloon at 1227 NE Adams St. “It shouldn’t matter where the toys come from. There are a lot of needy kids out there.”

Operation Sleighbell was started in 1982 by Judson Chapel Baptist Church in Champaign. Donors provide toys and household goods, which shoppers can buy for as little as $1 per item, though pricier goods (like lamps and coats) might cost as much as $5. The goal is to help low-income folks stretch their dollar, even past the holidays.

Operation Sleighbell now serves families in 48 Illinois counties and six Indiana counties. The 501(c)3 group also operates out of four other cities: Peoria, Danville, Decatur and Neoga. In each city, an affiliated Baptist church is in charge of collecting items and finding a distribution site. The sales last a few days in early December.

In Peoria, Operation Sleighbell had been run by Laramie Street Baptist Church. Two years ago, a member of that church approached friend Cole and suggested the pub help out. Cole liked the idea, going so far as to offer a free drink for each donation.

She figured the workaday joint might collect 20 toys, max. But that first year, the tap piled up 200 toys. Last year, customers matched that number.

Both of those years, someone from Laramie Street Baptist would call Cole and tell her when to bring the toys to the former Cub Foods in Midtown Plaza, which doubled as the shopping site. She says that after each sale, her saloon was visited by Pastor Rick Smith of Judson Chapel, who’d founded the organization. He came in not to have a drink but offer gratitude.

“He thanked me for all that we did,” she said.

Though donations are down this year, she has 30 new toys to hand over. This year, even past Thanksgiving, Cole hadn’t heard from Laramie Street Baptist. No biggie: she figured a call would come regarding the usual drop-off at Cub Foods. But with no call come Thursday, she started making calls of her own to Operation Sleighbell.

As it turns out, the head pastor at Laramie Street Baptist had retired in the summer, and the church didn’t have enough help to continue with the program. A substitute came in Dayton Avenue Baptist Church in Peoria, which hosted the drop-off and shopping on-site.

Cole called that church Thursday morning. Though shopping continued there Thursday, Cole was told not to bother with her drop-off. Donations would not be accepted from any bar.

Joe Gardner, the interim pastor there, says he was not directly involved with Operation Sleighbell, as he found a church volunteer to run the program. But he tells me he knew of no ban on gifts from saloons.

“I don’t believe there is anything against that,” Gardner says.

I did not get a call-back from Smith, founder of the effort. Henrietta Dinzler, the volunteer coordinating the program for Dayton Avenue Baptist, says she discussed Operation Sleighbell with Smith in the summer. When he mentioned the bevy of donations from Cole's Corner Tap over the past two years, Dinzler expressed discomfort.

“According to our church covenant, we will not buy or use alcoholic beverage for the purposes of getting drunk,” she says.

Smith, she says, gave her the power over whether to accept the tap’s donations. So she prayed about it.

“I just felt the Lord leading me to turn down the donations for a bar,” she says.

She says that if the drop-off had again been at the old Cub Foods or at another place away from the church, maybe she would have accepted the toys. But not at the church.

“I didn't want Dayton Avenue linked to a tavern,” she says.

She says fellow congregants support her stance. As for not notifying Cole, Dinzler says she thought Smith had contacted the tavern about the matter. Instead, Dinzler broke the news when Cole called Thursday morning.

“I hope I didn’t offend her,” Dinzler says. “That was not my intention.”

Cole says she later called the Children’s Home, which had been short on toys for Christmas gifts. The agency gladly agreed to take the toys.

“I told them where the toys were coming from,” Cole says. “They didn’t care.”

Cole will deliver the toys early next week. First, though, she says she’ll spend the weekend trying to drum up more.

Meanwhile at Dayton Avenue Baptist, Dinzler and other volunteers wrapped up the final day of shopping. She says the sale went well, with about 120 guests served. During clean-up, volunteers already were talking about hosting Operation Sleighbell again next year.

“They loved having it here,” she says. “They felt they really made a difference."

PHIL LUCIANO is a Journal Star columnist. He can be reached at pluciano@pjstar.com, facebook.com/philluciano and (309) 686-3155. Follow him on Twitter.com/LucianoPhil. As a holiday gift, the book "101 Things That Play in Peoria" is available via createspace.com.