Newsroom leader's gift - running Mac's

Sep. 24—Since the mid-1980s, Dawn Dayton has been known in Beckley for her respected leadership in local media and of Mac's Toy Fund, a charity of The Register-Herald.

Dayton, 67 and now retired, worked for Beckley Newspapers from 1978 until 2018. During those years, Dayton worked every job available in the newsroom, except for sports — and she was once asked to work the sports desk.

Starting in the 1980s, shortly after President Ronald Reagan was shot, Dayton managed people. She was city editor, and, although she served a brief stint as editor-in-chief, Dayton was most known among local journalists and the public as the long-time managing editor. In that position, she oversaw the organization. As generations of reporters, photographers and editors-in-chief would say, Dayton was the "heart" of the newsroom and the one who was most connected to the journalists and the community's stories.

Dayton had the arduous task of organizing writers of all ages, including a large pool of recent college graduates. She often said she felt like her job was "herding cats."

She trained writers, helped them to develop their beats, put them in touch with appropriate local people and edited their copy before it went to press.

"Dawn chose to stay in Beckley, when she could have gone anywhere with her talents and her ability to make sure things get done," said Pam Pritt, managing editor of WVUToday in Morgantown.

Pritt, a former newspaper publisher, worked as a reporter for The Register-Herald for several years while Dayton was managing editor.

"She made The Register-Herald a better newspaper," said Pritt. "She made reporters' lives easier with her editing skills, but she also made sure they worked up to their potential."

Dayton retired with a sense that she had made an impact on those whose careers she helped to shape.

"I do feel a sense of accomplishment," she said. "There are just so many people who came through the doors of The Register-Herald, and I feel like I helped a lot of them further their careers, even if it was only just pointing out things they may have gotten wrong."

She once corrected a newly hired reporter's designation of former West Virginia Rep. Nick Rahall as "Rep. Ray Hall," she recalled, laughing. Another time, a reporter dubbed the former Stoco High School as "Sunoco High."

"There were several of those," she recalled, laughing. "You just want to catch those things, because you're not going to look too good if you don't catch them, but it just keeps things new and bright.

"But I do think I helped a lot of people. And I've gotten feedback from people that said I did help."

----Starting in the mid-1980s, Dayton helped people outside of the newsroom, too, when she took over the organization of Mac's Toy Fund.

For years, the public brought their most generous gifts of new and gently loved dolls, bicycles, stuffed animals and other toys to local drop-off sites to be stored until Christmas, with Dayton overseeing the mission.

Every year, Dayton spent a day close to Christmas at The Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, where thousands of the region's children and their families gathered to choose toys for Christmas.

"In the years we have done the distribution, to see the looks on the kids' faces, and they now know that somebody cares and wants to help them, I think that is one of the things that keeps me motivated," she noted. "It's not Christmas without Mac's."

Dayton believes firmly in the work of Mac's Toy Fund, which was started in 1930 by Beckley Post-Herald editor Mac McDowell, who reached out to his readers to find Christmas toys for kids who might otherwise not receive gifts.

Dayton was, arguably, the most public face of Mac's, after Mac McDowell. For at least two decades, she has been the most public spokesperson for the program.

"There's always been a need for something like Mac's, to help out the less fortunate kids in our area," Dayton said. "Now, we're in 91 years.

"I think the needs become greater over the years."

When she retired in 2018, many in the community worried that Mac's Toy Fund would falter. Dayton was recovering from a series of health setbacks, but, once again, she stepped up to organize.

She said she never thought about permanently passing the torch to another organizer.

She is still leading the Christmas charity, now from her home in Beckley. She said the needs of the children whom Mac's serves each year are her motivation for continuing her work with the charity, now that she is retired.

"If Mac's were to go away, there's not too many alternatives for (the children)," she said. "In a perfect world, there would be no need for Mac's, but, unfortunately, there is a great need for Mac's.

"So we'll keep it going, in some shape or form, as long as there's still a need.

"That's what motivates me," said Dayton. "You can't just leave all of these kids hanging out there."

She noted that many may think of toys as not an item that a child needs.

"Kids need toys to help them grow and learn," she noted. "Many people might consider them an extra, just an extra add-on that they get, but Mac's isn't, always, all about the toys.

"We've done new winter coats for a number of years. There have been any number of kids that would not have a warm coat, were it not for Mac's."

In 2020, the annual distribution was canceled. Instead, Mac's sent out grants to organizations to purchase toys for children.

The same protocol will be followed in 2021, to reduce the risk of Covid transmission.

Dayton said that she hopes to be with the kids at the Convention Center again in 2022.

"Last year, without a party to go to, I was a little lost," she said. "I'd done it for so many years."