Radio Station Annual Toy Drive Doesn’t Disappoint; National Guard Assists
Radio Station Annual Toy Drive Doesn’t Disappoint; National Guard Assists
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Radio Station Annual Toy Drive Doesn’t Disappoint; National Guard AssistsThis Christmas will be hard for many because of the COVID pandemic and its effect on businesses and jobs, but hundreds – if not thousands – of toys were still donated for Toys for Tots through Willie 103.5’s annual toy drive last week.
The drive – held from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 1-4 at the Warsaw Meijer store – concluded Saturday morning, with applicants and members of the Indiana Army National Guard unloading the RV at the former Ace Hardware store in Warsaw for counting and sorting.
Willie 103.5 morning show host Chris Cage and afternoon show host Dave Michaels took turns each day at the RV drop-off location.
After the National Guard helped unload it Saturday, Cage said, “With the pandemic year, we weren’t really sure what we were going to get. But, I’ll tell you, we came through, we filled up the trailer from Kerlin Trailers. We were out in front of Meijer’s all week long.”
He said he got a little nervous on Wednesday with where the drive was going to be. “But we filled it up quite nicely. I’ll tell you, the generosity of the community and the listeners, it’s just – we use the word ‘humbled’ a lot and it’s just one of those where it’s a very humbling experience here. Another year wrapping this up especially in a year like 2020. A very good year and I’ll tell you there’s going to be a lot of smiles on Christmas morning because of what the community has come and done once again,” Cage said.
Donations ranged from bicycles to remote controlled vehicles, Barbie dolls and basketballs.
“We had several bikes again this year, and there’s one girl I’d like to point out. Her name is Sophia, she’s 15 years old. She started donating toys when she was 4. Now, obviously she’s older and not having a birthday party, but she goes out and has people donate money to her and then she goes out and buys toys. This year, with the help of her grandfather, bought 40 RC cars and brought them,” Cage said, highlighting one donor’s story.
“The generosity of the community is just unbelieveable,” he said.
They used to count how many toys were donated, but Cage said they stopped doing that.
“It just got harder and harder to count. It doesn’t matter the number. We just want to fill it up and make sure we get enough toys to have enough smiles on Christmas morning to go around,” Cage said.
The radio station started the toy drive in 2007.
Nearly two dozen National Guard applicants and members helped unload the RV Saturday.
Staff Sgt. Randy Jackson said, “It’s kind of a community event and we’re very big in the community, so we wanted to get involved as much as we could so we volunteered our time, our help just to help organize these toys and disperse them among the community.”
For anyone who didn’t get a chance to donate during Willie 103.5’s toy drive, there’s still plenty of opportunity to give toward Toys for Tots.
WNDU channel 16 will be at Martin’s from 7 to 11 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 12 for their annual toy drive for Toys for Tots. Social distancing and masks will be required. The Warsaw choir will perform and different groups have volunteered to help that day.
The toy fundraiser concert with Susie McEntire and special guest Linda Davis is scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 12 at Lakeview Middle School auditorium, with limited seating. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the concert beginning at 7 p.m. The concert is free but organizers ask attendees to donate a new, unopened toy.
The Toys for Tots campaign began Nov. 23 and goes until Dec. 21.
Locations around the county to drop off new, unopened toys include Ace Hardware, Mentone; Latte Lounge, Side House Grill, Why Pay Retail, Walgreens, CVS, Menards, Martin’s, Walmart, Meijer, Shear Envious, Stock & Field (formerly Big R), Warsaw Orthodontics and Monteith Tire in Warsaw; Tippy Creek Winery, Leesburg; Miotto’s Main Street Bar & Grill, Milford; The Revolving Closet and Remax Lakes Realtors, Syracuse; Hunter’s BBQ, Etna Green; any fire department in the county and all six Freedom Express locations.
Delivery of the Christmas toys will be Dec. 19.
Trinkets for Teens also is collecting gifts for older children. It allows kids 13 to 18 to have a Christmas as long as their siblings are involved in Toys for Tots, and is organized by Warsaw Community High School Family Career Community Leaders of America.
Donations Trinkets for Teens usually is looking for includes perfumes, colognes, wallets, books, jewelry, headphones and games among other teen items. They don’t collect clothes because they don’t know the size of the clothes the teens wear.
There are donation boxes at WCHS for people to make drop-offs.
Trinkets for Teens started collecting prior to the Thanksgiving holiday and will keep collecting donations until Wednesday. FCCLA will package and deliver the items to Toys for Tots on Dec. 18.
For anyone seeking more information or with questions about Toys for Tots, contact Morales by email at Kosciuskocounty4t@gmail.com or call 574-551-9895.
For more information on Trinkets for Teens, call Kendra Lancaster at 574-527-5258 or by email at kjeanlancaster@gmail.com; or call Dena Lancaster at WCHS at 574-527-4418.
The Kosciusko County Toys for Tots campaign website can be found at https://warsaw-in.toysfortots.org/local-coordinator-sites/lco-sites/default.aspx?nPageID=100&nPreviewInd=200&nRedirectInd=3.
