Join KLT The Rock Station as we support TOYS FOR TOTS!
There is a greater need this year than ever!
Below is a list of toy drive / donation events for 2020.
We encourage you to help if you are able!
For more info visit
Traverse City Area Toys for Tots
or
Toys For Tots to find a local Toys For Tots near you
Post-Thanksgiving Stuffin’ Benefits Toys for Tots
Toys for Tots of Northwest Michigan is warming up the
after-Thanksgiving stuffin’ to collect donations for the annual toy drive.
Three events are planned this week to stuff vehicles full of toys.
The toy stuffin’ week begins Wednesday at A. Papano’s Pizza in Beulah where they are looking to stuff a Benzie County Sheriff patrol car full of new unwrapped toys. The event
will be held from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. The restaurant will give out free bread sticks with a toy donation. Ida of KLT The Rock station will broadcast live from this event. Thundertruck will be parked out front of A. Papanos.
Serra of Traverse City will host a Stuff the SUVs toy drive on Thursday. The dealership will take donations all day and wrap up at 6 p.m. They will attempt to stuff Toyota and Subaru SUVs full of toys.
Friday will wrap up the week with a Stuff the Toy Bus event at the Burger King in front of Meijer in Traverse City. Meijer will match toys purchased from their store and dropped off at the BATA bus set up next to US-31 South. Donations will be taken from 9
a.m. until 7p.m. Great Wolf Lodge water park passes will be distributed while supplies last with toy donations. Join Omelette, Terri Ray, Dean Berry, TJ McKay and the KLT The Rock Station Crew will broadcast live during the Stuff The Bus Event. Look for Thundertruck to be parked out in front.
Up North Live plans live news coverage from all three events. In addition to this toy drive, over 75 drop off locations are scattered around Grand Traverse, Leelanau, Benzie, Antrim and Kalkaska Counties. Other Toys for Tots campaigns are active throughout
Michigan.
“This is a critical week for us,” says Toys for Tots coordinator of Northwest Michigan, Maggie Kent. “We have a lot of families worried about how they can afford to buy presents for their children this Christmas. Many of the 14 agencies we serve are seeing a
doubling of toy requests.” Kent is encouraging people to make cash donations through the Toys for Tots website. She says this allows the campaign to buy the toys in bulk and have them delivered
directly to the agencies. “Were working hard to reduce the number of times we have to touch the toys. That makes it more safe for our donors and volunteer.”
Other Toys for Tots activities going on in the region include:
• Fox Grand Traverse Match Challenge. The dealership is matching cash donations at the Toys for Tots website up to $5,000.
• Restaurant Challenge — Restaurants Moose and Stella’s Cafe and Trout Town Tavern and Eatery in Kalkaska, along with Alpine Tavern and Eatery and CRAVE in Gaylord are selling paper Toys for Tots trains and will match up to $1,000 at each restaurant.
• Dave’s Garage in Traverse City is also selling paper trains and matching the donations.
Toys for Tots works with nearly every human service agency in the region including the Father Fred Foundation, Salvation Army, Leelanau Christian Neighbors, Benzie Area Christian Neighbors,
Good Samaritan in Ellsworth and the Department of Human
Services in Antrim and Kalkaska Counties.
Sunday, December 6th and 13th Toy sorts.
Join us as we sort and bag lots and lots of toys for distribution. Call Maggie Kent if you want to volunteer so that you can get on the list. Phone: 231-933-0344. (Event is held at the US Coast Guard Base and all volunteers must be cleared by USCG to be on the base. Names must be submitted by the previous Wednesday.) Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be changing how we do things. We will have smaller groups of people working in one-hour shifts.
Toys for Tots began 73 years ago by the Marine Corps Reserves. It is the largest
Christmas toy gathering organization in the country. More information is available by
calling (231) 933-0344 or online at www.ToysForTots.org. A drop down menu will take
you to the Grand Traverse County campaign on the website.