Lakeshore Learning, a company that provides educational materials for children, and the Long Beach Unified School District teamed up with the nursery to give out 3,500 toys to needy families.
Whitney Leathers, executive director of the Long Beach Day Nursery, said this was the first drive that the nursery had hosted.
The Toy Giveaway, as it was called, took place in the lunchroom of the Personnel Commission offices on 4400 Ladoga Ave. in Lakewood. The event lasted a total of three days— Thursday, Dec. 17, Friday, Dec. 18 and on Tuesday.
Leathers said the planning of the Toy Giveaway event was orchestrated in a span of two weeks.
“We got a notification from Lakeshore Learning that [it] had these toys to donate for us,” she said. Leathers also added that the company teams up with Long Beach Day Nursery for a lot of different events that they plan.
Both company directors decided that the best way they could help the surrounding community was by donating toys to low-income families.
Volunteers helped during the Toy Giveaway, as they handed out the toys to those that came with a valid ticket and helped with any questions the guests may have had. To receive the toys, families were given tickets at their local schools prior to the Toy Giveaway. The Long Beach Early Childhood Education Committee, a group composed of Long Beach schools and early childhood centers, made the decision as to what schools receive the tickets based off of location and necessity.
On the days of the giveaway, families presented their tickets to the volunteers at the front entrance. The volunteers then checked a list to see if the ticket was valid and gave them a large plastic bag to carry the toys in.
[aesop_image imgwidth=”500px” img=”http://www.signaltribunenewspaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Screen-Shot-2015-12-23-at-4.55.30-PM.png” credit=”Infograph by Sebastian Echeverry/Signal Tribune” align=”left” lightbox=”on” caption=”Graph showing the timeline of how the Toy Giveaway event began.” captionposition=”left”] “The Long Beach Day Nursery reached out to all of our community partners, and the school district provided volunteers,” Leathers said. She added that teachers that were on vacation for the winter returned to help out during the event. Head Start, an early childhood-development program, also provided volunteers.
Families came from all over Long Beach and the surrounding area. Leathers mentioned that the line on the first day of the event extended outside the front door.
Board members from the nursery, workers from the Port of Long Beach, members of the Public Health Department and Signal Hill Councilmember Edward Wilson all volunteered at the giveaway.
Kelly King, who works in a special-needs pre-school in Long Beach, also volunteered during the giveaway. Her school was among those who received tickets for the toy drive.
“[The pre-school] asked if anyone wanted to volunteer, so I signed up,” King said. “So I’m just giving away the required toys.”
The two toys that were required to be given out were a horse-trailer play set and a toy-car race track.
Children then had the freedom to choose two more toys, ranging from laser blasters to strollers for stuffed animals.
Maria Gallegos, 49, brought her nieces and nephews to the event. She said that some of the kids she brought with her don’t live with their parents, and that the economy is also a factor in their way of living. The Long Beach school that her nieces and nephews go to received the tickets in order for them to have something for the holidays, she said.
If it wasn’t for the giveaway, Gallegos said the children would not have toys this Christmas. She said that the toy drive really helps out the kids, and even the parents, and gets them into the Christmas spirit.
Juan Cardenas, 11, one of the nephews that Gallegos brought with her, was looking for a race track at the event that would go with his toy cars.
Bob Musso, regional vice president for Lakeshore Learning’s West Coast Branch, helped during the Toy Giveaway by chaperoning families through the aisles and putting toys in bags.
“We are always looking for ways to partner with our customers,” he said. “We are based right here in Long Beach, we’re right here in Carson, we have really long-term relationships with these folks, so we are always giving back to the community.”
In the back-storage location of the Toy Giveaway laid a mountain of opened boxes that almost touched the ceiling. Those boxes held the toys that were given out during the event. Leathers said 80 pallets were used to bring all the toys in.
The amount of toys that were given away inspires Leathers to do this sort of event all over again in the future.
“I think we can do this again if we ever get a donation of this size,” she said.
