RTV 6 Toy Drive Success Is A Hoosier Miracle!
If you have ever doubted the power of television, I saw what the medium could do to make a difference last week.
The 8th Annual RTV 6 Toy Drive last year served 10,000 families with toys for Christmas.
This year, due to the economic issues facing Indiana and the world, well over 11,000 families and children were registered to receive toys from the RTV 6 Toy Drive.
As of last Tuesday, it looked like this year’s Toy Drive effort was going to fall well short of our 11,000 goal. We had maybe only half of what we needed.
6 NEWS reporter Julie Pursley did a story about the shortfall during 6 NEWS on Tuesday. The last major collection for the toy drive was scheduled for the next day. We were warning the various agencies that it was not looking good to support all the charities that needed help.
Apparently, many Hoosiers saw that news story.
On Wednesday, volunteers from RTV 6, AAA Hoosier Insurance, Dial One Hour, FedEx and Gleaners Food Bank witnessed a toy drive miracle.
From 6am to 6pm on Monument Circle, hundreds of Hoosiers stopped by and donated thousands of toys! So many toys were collected, that the volunteers filled several very large FedEx trucks!
We simply could not believe it.
And the stories about the people bringing the toys really touched our hearts. A group of Ob-Gyn nurses heard of the shortfall and took up a collection raising several thousands of dollars for toys; A secret Gleaners donor gave a $3000 check; we were touched by the moms from Westfield that took advantage of a two hour school delay and let their kids go wild buying toys for the effort; I met a young Carmel girl who decided that instead of birthday gifts, her friends could bring items to her party that would be donated to the Toy Drive.
But the story I found especially moving was that of an elderly man that made the trip to the Circle. With barely enough money for himself, he donated a a single toy, apologizing that he couldn’t do more to help kids in need. How could you not be touched by that kind of giving spirit?
Every season, I am blessed to see so many wonderful acts of kindness. I will be forever grateful for the opportunity to witness Hoosier generosity.
So to all of you that donated a toy, or volunteered to collect or sort toys, or gave some cash or just offered encouragement, we want to say “thank you!”
We could not do this massive toy drive without our very good friends Sloan, Pam and everyone at Gleaners Food Bank and the dozens of agencies they work with.
We simply could not do this Toy Drive without FedEx. Tony, Ross, Paul and the dozens of FedEx employees are the backbone collecting and warehousing the toys at their facility. They make it happen…even though it is their busiest time of the year!
A shout out to our friends at Dial One Hour for joining the Toy Drive adventure this year!
And a very special thanks to IRL driver Sarah Fisher and our wonderful presenting partner, AAA Hoosier Insurance. AAA Hoosier employees have really made this toy drive a special event. Their help and enthusiasm have made this event bigger and better.
From all of us, we wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas
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