“It’s just a blessing that they thought of us,” she said.

“With my son’s death, no one has told us anything and no one has been found. Just to know that they are reaching out to us means that they are thinking about us.

“It was so touching to me to know that they still care,” she said.

That was the point of the outreach, according to St. Louis Police Capt. Ryan Cousins, who made some of the deliveries.

“We want to let the families know someone thought of them enough to do this, and that the community was thinking about them,” he said.

The police department delivered more than 100 bags of food and toys, reaching 165 children.

The toys were provided by Rickey Whittington through his R. Whittington Foundation.

“I call it a labor of love,” Whittington said. “Our community needs to start loving on each other. Almost 200 murders this year. It’s not a good look for our city and our community.”

Whittington and his foundation run charitable efforts throughout the year, through toy drives, scholarships, feeding programs and more.