In a Giving mood
With Christmas still 25 days away, hundreds of toys were piled high in front of a decorated tree in the Brick House Thursday night.
People came to the annual Toys for Tots collection bearing teddy bears, Hot Wheels, Tonka trucks, Monopoly games, Nerf guns, dolls, basketballs and more.
This is the sixth year that Chuck Swidzinski's team of Realtors with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices has held the event with the hopes of helping less fortunate children around Butler County have a good Christmas.
Swidzinski said Thursday that the event collected almost 2,000 toys for the charity last year and he was hopeful that they would eclipse that total this year.
“It's going to make someone's Christmas special,” he said.
The effort was supported by numerous Butler-area businesses that donated both gifts and money.
Jared Sullivan, a Realtor with Berkshire Hathaway, said they used to collect donations at their office, but they didn't get much foot traffic there.
The first event garnered donations of about 300 gifts, but it has grown since then into an annual tradition for many people.
It is always held the Thursday after Thanksgiving.
“We have a lot of people say this kicks off the holiday season for them,” Sullivan said.
Toys for Tots, a nationwide effort of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, has its local headquarters at the Clearview Mall in Center Township.
Organizer Dennis Johnston, a Marine Corps veteran, said that all the toys donated will go to less fortunate families in Butler County. They do not screen people for their income level, but do ask to see a birth certificate to prove that the recipients have children.
“People could lose their job right before Christmas and they wouldn't qualify for anything else,” said Jodi Johnston, another organizer, about not having strict financial requirements for families to receive toys.The period to sign up has ended, but donations will be collected until Dec. 14, Johnston said.An estimated 2,300 children, up to age 12, will receive toys through the program, he said.More than 300 collection boxes have been distributed around Butler County and other organizations and businesses also have organized collections in recent weeks.Busing company W.L. Roenigk did a “stuff a bus” campaign in partnership with VFW Post 7376 in Saxonburg.Employees, VFW members and the community combined to fill two buses with donations, said John Risch, company spokesman.“We feel this is a good way to give back to our community,” he said.W.L. Roenigk also provided a bus to Penn United Technologies in Jefferson Township. Penn United employees raised $3,600, which they used to buy 10 bikes and other toys at Toys 'R' Us to fill the bus, said Dan Smith of Penn United.Employees at the company have been collecting donations for four years in honor of their former co-worker, Mark Bishop, who died in a car accident. Bishop was known for his charitable giving and generosity, Smith said.
