Santa’s Toy Drive is on a mission to bring Christmas joy to kids and families in need of some assistance. We stand by “support your local businesses” and opened an opportunity for the business owners, employees, and residents in the area to reverse that and support the families in their local community.
In 2021 Affordable Dumpsters came up with a plan to not only help families in need around Christmas but found a way to bring the community together and make miracles happen. With the help and collaboration of Avant Garden, together they came up with Santa’s Toy Drive.
Santa’s Toy Drive serves families all over Christian County and surrounding areas. Applications are posted on social media, at local businesses and schools. Applications can be filled out anonymously, by a friend, relative or the parents in need of assistance. Applications are accepted by the amount of donations received and we always hope to fulfill all the applications we receive. We were blessed enough in our first year to be able to help over 50 families and 140 kids! We were also able to send 2 large squad vehicles full to the local abuse shelter, 2 large vehicles to CPS for foster children and 1 vehicle to Project Birthday bag.
Leading up to the month of December, Affordable Dumpsters and Avant Garden start reaching out to local businesses and volunteers to start gathering donations. Volunteers help by dispersing “toy boxes” at local businesses to collect brand new, unopened toys for all ages from 0 – 18. At the end of the donation period, Affordable Dumpsters collects all the donations in hopes of filling an entire roll off dumpster! Affordable Dumpsters and Avant Garden have sponsored a major event at the end of the donation period to invite the families who signed up for assistance to come have a night out with the kids. During the event there is fun games, crafts, and activities for the kids to participate in while the parents get to shop the toy room alone. We have Santa taking pictures along with other favorite Christmas characters like the Grinch and Buddy the Elf. The entire event is free for those who signed up.
For the first year of Santa’s Toy Drive, multiple businesses helped gather donations by organizing their own personal events, promotions, and sales to drive their customers to donate! Luk Boutique and Sugar Cube Lane hosted a Christmas themed BINGO, Heart of Dixie boutique designed a “shirt for a cause”, Elite General Contracting did a raffle for high end gift cards. Many more participated in promotional offers in exchange for donations. Together we raised over 2658 POUNDS in toys!!! Our goal this year is to be able to double the families and double the number of businesses we can gather to join in on the fun! If you would like to be a part of Santa’s Toy Drive by sponsoring a toy box or purchasing a spot on the banner, please reach out and let us know. We would love to add YOU to this amazing nonprofit organization and be able to reach those in needs of love, care, and assistance.