Community Supporters Host Toy Drives for JoyRx
Bluey and Legos and bears… oh my! With an abundance of toy drives in December, JoyRx Mentorship’s toy closet is filled for another year of fun interactions between mentors and their mentees. Thanks to the generous support of our corporate and community partners, we received a combined total of approximately $15,000 in toy donations!
We are so grateful for our partners who hosted these toy drives to help support JoyRx-served kids — Ballard Marine, Barrington Heights Bunco Group, Cushman & Wakefield, Karen Cross’s book club, NW Mutual, PEMCO Insurance, Teri Betts-Prince’s Family and Friends Build-a-Bear Drive, Tidewater Marine, Villa Sport, and Yoyo Yogi.
“We’re always in need of high-quality new toys that are engaging to kids of all ages,” said Lori Piscitello, JoyRx Mentorship Specialist. “We’re so grateful to the folks who held toy drives to help us get updated toys for the toy closet.”
“Wow!” said one mentor when she arrived to fill her toy bag before visiting her friend at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. “There’s so much stuff to choose from — where do I even start? What a wonderful ‘problem’ to have!”
A special thanks to some wonderful volunteers who took time out of their busy holiday season to log, organize, and put away the toys in the toy closet.
Popular among the donations were always-in-demand staples — LEGOs are always a big hit and Disney princess merch is very popular.
“We also got a lot of Bluey items,” said Lori. “That’s always popular with the kiddos, so they’ll be thrilled!”
Each year, we have several toy drives (such as Chante’s donations in honor of her son and Teri & Brock’s Build-a-Bear Drive), and each year we’re humbled by the generosity, support, and backing of our JoyRx community.
With these toy drives, we’re able to supply JoyRx Mentors with toys and activities to fill their toy bags when they spend time with their friends in the hospital. These moments of distraction, laughter, and joy can have a big impact — and especially now that we’re supporting more than 100 matches each year.
Even with the holidays behind us, you can still support JoyRx Mentorship! Make a monetary donation to help support the program or shop our Amazon wishlist to help keep our toy closet shelves full all year long!