For Keith Kidwell, there’s a simple reason for the nonprofit Magoo’s Christmas 4 Veterans to exist: veterans deserve a merry Christmas.

Kidwell and the nonprofit plan to provide that merry Christmas at 3 p.m. Dec. 17 to veterans at the North Carolina State Veterans Home in Kinston. Shopping for those veterans’ gifts is underway. But to buy those gifts, Magoo’s Christmas 4 Veterans needs money. The nonprofit is seeking contributions to help it realize its goal.

The gifts range from clothing to electronics to snacks and candy, Kidwell said.

During Christmas 2015, Kidwell and other members of a political organization visited the veterans home in Kinston. After seeing how that visit affected those veterans, Kidwell said, he decided to involve his business in a similar visit. After raising about $1,100 — contributions from friends — that visit was made, with country singer Don Cox, a Beaufort County resident, joining Kidwell and others on that visit. Several vehicles were used to deliver “personal stuff and things they had asked for” to the veterans, Kidwell noted.

Kidwell, owner of the local H&R Block franchise, said the idea of forming the nonprofit came during Christmas of last year after another visit to veterans.

Kidwell said the nonprofit — contributions to it are tax-deductible — is named in honor of his wife’s father, a veteran of the Korean War. “Her dad had just died the prior March and we were thinking about how to dedicated it to him as her was a Korean War Vet. Then it hit me, his nickname was ‘Magoo’ perfect! Magoo’s Christmas 4 Veterans was conceived,” Kidwell wrote in an email. “Within a few days I had drawn up the paperwork and got our state charter and before the end of January I had filed and received our Internal Revenue Service approval as a 501(c)3.”

Kidwell isn’t along in taking Christmas to veterans.

“Last year, we had about 25 people who went down with us. We’re trying to get a bunch of people to help bring the stuff in and bring Christmas to the veterans,” Kidwell said. “I’ve collected money from as far away as Ohio and New Jersey.”

Kidwell and those who visit the veterans sing Christmas carols. An effort is made to personalize the gifts the veterans receive.

Kidwell said the veterans — men and women — appreciate their gifts. Their reactions are “everything from laughing to crying,” he said. “It’s just amazing to see the impact. Unfortunately, some of them are beyond the point of being able to react. We’ve had a couple of the guys that the nurses told us ‘They had never smiled in the last year until you guys came here for Christmas.’ To be able to do that is moving,” Kidwell said.

Nikeshia Jerkins, recreation services director at the Kinston veterans home, said the 100 veterans she works with are appreciative of Magoo’s Christmas 4 Veterans’ efforts to bring Christmas cheer to them. Boom boxes are among the items often requested by the veterans, she said. “They like their music. I think it improves the quality of life for them,” she said.

Jerkins said the visits by Kidwell and his companions are a highlight of the Christmas season for the veterans.

For more information about Magoo’s Christmas 4 Veterans, including making a contribution via PayPal, visit https://www.facebook.com/magooschristmas4veterans. Checks made to Magoo’s Christmas for Veterans may be mailed to Magoo’s Christmas 4 Veterans, Suite 101, 2013 W. 15^th St., Washington, North Carolina, 27889 or dropped off there.