VIDEO: Salina’s Largest Toy Collection Effort

Dozens of volunteers and multiple businesses opened up their hearts in the spirit giving on Tuesday. The Sankey Auto Center facility in Salina looked more like Santa’s workshop than an automobile business, as it became bombarded with toys.

The largest toy gathering effort in Salina culminated with volunteers delivering over 4,000 toys. The toys will be sorted, and distributed to foster kids as part of the Saint Francis Community Services “Christmas for Kids” program.

“Christmas for Kids” is an annual effort to put Christmas gifts under the trees of the thousands of children in the care of Saint Francis. “Christmas for Kids” is one of Saint Francis’ most popular programs, and it continues to grow each year in the number of community partners who join, in the number of donations they receive, and in the number of children the program serves.

Toys that were delivered on Tuesday came from multiple sources. Great Plains Manufacturing delivered a tractor-trailer truck full of toys. Coldwell Banker Realtors delivered a truckload of toys, and a fire truck full of toys. Rocking M Media delivered toys donated by listeners to the radio station, and toys that were donated during a couple of broadcasts at the Salina Target Store. Target doubled the amount gathered in their store, by matched the toys that were donated during the radio station broadcasts.

According to Vickee Spicer, Marketing Director at Saint Francis, over 4,000 toys were delivered. They will go to the roughly 3,600 foster children served by St. Francis in Kansas, including about 1,600 in the Salina area and areas west.

Spicer said the effort, with dozens of volunteers and multiple businesses participating, is the largest toy collection event of its kind in Salina.

Over the next couple of days the toys will be sorted, and delivered to the children.

“Christmas for Kids” connects groups and individuals with children who are often times without family traditions over the holidays. The goals is to create a memory that’s a positive memory.

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