This past week has been amazing and a blur!
We have received 2,492 toy donations over the past five days for a current grand total of 4,913 toys.
We still have 96 toy donation boxes displayed at Churches, schools and local businesses throughout Kitsap County (many of which are filling up or already full).
Volunteers will be driving U-Haul trucks to pick up these toy collection boxes and toys this Wednesday throughout Kitsap County.
The Kidzz Helping Kidzz Advisory Board and volunteers have been helping around the clock labeling toys, sorting Christmas donations and boxing up all the holiday toy drive donations. Our team boxed nearly 2,500 toys in 90 minutes.
Everybody was working at record speed!
We have met amazing people this past week who support Kidzz Helping Kidzz toy drive.
Karen Jennings brought us dozens of unique ‘Scentsy Buddies’ (adorable stuffed animals) that will bring joy to any child who receives one.
Kathy Watson, a member of the Port Orchard Beta Sigma Phi, an international service and social organization for women, brought us beautiful toys. Noah and Zach are pictured with Kathy with a couple of their favorite toys.
Their individual chapter is called Xi Gamma Lambda and we greatly appreciate their generous donation of games and art supplies.
The art studio has Acrylic paints, oil pastels, colored pencils, sketch pencils, paintbrushes, calligraphy pens, crayons, paper and a metal floor Easel. It must weigh at least 15lbs!
Clint Boxman, Managing Director of The Latitude 48 Group leads our toy drive in Kingston.
Each year Clint and his friends purchase toys for Kidzz Helping Kidzz that are sold at local businesses. Last week, Clint informed me he received donations totaling $2,100!
He went shopping for toys this weekend with his two children.
They brought the toys to our labeling, sorting, and boxing “party” and helped out!
We could not do this work without amazing people like Clint!
A local Bible Study Group with Newlife in Silverdale contacted us several weeks ago inquiring how they could support Kidzz Helping Kidzz.
Today, they joined our toy sorting, labeling and boxing “party” and brought their children! This amazing group of volunteers helped us during our 2019 toy drive. They even helped us to fill up our 26’ U-Haul truck with toys the night before delivery to the hospitals.
Mary Ellen Houston, owner of the Olalla Vineyard and Winery wrote this special email to us:
Our toy box is absolutely overflowing right now! I recently turned "60" years old and my staff decided to have a party for me on December 4th here at the winery. I told all of the guests that I didn't want any gifts but to please bring a toy to help fill the toy box for Kidzz Helping Kidzz. It worked! I am attaching a photo showing a son of one of my employees putting in his gifts that he wanted to donate. He was so excited to give! Thank you for all you do! Cheers! - Mary Ellen
Thank you for your generous support of our annual Kidzz Helping Kidzz toy drive! We could not do this work without the amazing volunteers that help us to run this program each year.
Please keep the toy donations coming! Together we will brighten the lives of thousands of children at St. Michael Medical Center, Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, and Seattle Children’s Hospital.