Brownwood Middle School athletes recently supported the Brown County Toys for Kids program by having a toy drive. A donation of 85 toys and $100 cash was donated on Thursday morning.
Toys for Kids volunteer representative Gloria Gandara visited BMS and explained to the kids the mission of the program and its current enrollment. This year alone, Gandara stated that there are 1388 kids from 529 families being served by Toys for Kids. She thanked the student athletes for their generosity in gathering toys for the program.
“We collect and distribute toys to families that are going through a hard time. Maybe because Mom or Dad has lost their job or an illness in the family and even the high gas prices or grocery prices,” explained Gandara. “No one should feel bad about getting toys from Toys for Kids since all families have difficult times at one time or another.”
Gandara gave some statistics of the program’s history.
“Since 2010, we have assisted 2949 families with 6237 children to have gifts Christmas morning,” she stated. “Each child receives 3 gifts on average which equals over 18,000 toys plus stocking stuffers. We will wrap gifts for all families if they want us to do it.”
Gandara also stated that some of the families receiving gifts give back to the program by volunteering to help when toys are distributed.
This year marked the fifth year that Brownwood Middle School athletes have collected toys and donations for the Toys for Kids Program, according to Gandara.
Pictured above are 7th grade athletes with some of the donations. Below are 8th grade athletes.
