This is certainly a special time of year, but something really special happened with the Tower Toy Drive this year. Our family started this over 10 years ago with a single small bag of toys for the Child Life program at a local hospital that was so amazing during a very scary time for our family. Never in our wildest dreams did we see it growing to what it did this year:
1,200+ toys delivered
$2,500 in shopping ($1,250 in new donations)
20 donors
10 volunteers
7 deliveries
3 Hospitals
2 Homeless Shelters
2 project partners
1 storage unit
If you or any of your children have even been in the hospital, you know the impact the Child Life program can make. And if you have ever volunteered to help the homeless, you can imagine what a difference a few toys can make for a family in need during Christmas.
With your help, we did all of that and a lot more! This year not only did we nearly double the amount of toys we delivered, but we also were able to include more locations. Here are the deliveries we made:
Sutter Children’s Hospital – our first hospital with one of the largest and best Child Life programs you will find. Toys are also used year-round for birthdays and their Child Life playroom. It Takes Guts (another organization we partner with) brings a team to wrap presents. We ended up with 2 large deliveries here!
UC Davis Children’s Hospital – one of the largest children’s hospitals in Northern California with over 115 beds. Toys provided for Christmas morning and year-round services
Kaiser Pediatric Center – Our newest hospital we were able to expand to with a smaller program within a large hospital. Toys are provided for patients on Christmas.
Acres of Hope – homeless shelter for women and children in Placer County. Toys are provided for families to give on Christmas morning.
Wind Youth Services – homeless shelter for children and drop-in services for homeless teens. Toys were provided for Christmas at the shelter and supplies/gift cards were provided for teens
In addition to the $2,500 in donations we used ($1,250 from this project alone), we also received wonderful support from our project partners. With their additional donations, we were able to double our delivery totals this year (and needed a storage unit to hold it all)!
There were a lot of people who made this happen behind the scenes during a busy holiday season. We would like to thank this awesome team of volunteers:
Project Leader – Tanis Liomin Volunteer Coordinator – Cindy Pratt Toy Deliveries – Diana & Paul Stephan, Holly Cable, Melina Sanchez, Ian & Kim Tipton Project Partners – Jennie Stroup, Lisa Airola
And of course, none of this is possible without Niceness Nation! Whether you made a donation, shipped us a toy, shared the project on social media, or told a friend – THANK YOU. We hope you will take a moment to look at our donor's wall to see all the amazing supporters who helped make this happen.
This year was a testament to what the power of our team can do. I hope you take a moment to think about the difference you made (and are making). Whether they are waking up in a hospital bed or homeless shelter, they know someone took the time to do something for them. Someone they will never meet puts a smile on their face. We hope that makes you smile too.
Thank you for your niceness and Happy Holidays!
(PS – and look out, because we have even bigger plans for 2020!)Â
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