7th Annual Denver Dolls for Daughters® and Toys for Boys® Toy Shop

Saturday, December 3^rd marked our 7^th Annual Denver Dolls for Daughters® and Toys for Boys® Toy Shop.  Our goal was to serve 5,000 children, providing each child with a new toy, a Lego set, a stocking, a new stocking stuffer, a new book/bookmark and a new toothbrush and toothpaste kit. Through the help of countless volunteers, we nearly hit our mark and served 4,609 children and 1,404 families!  Every recipient left our venue full of joy and smiles. As families lined up to get their tickets for the Toy Shop, they were greeted by volunteers in Disney characters.  Local police officers helped hand out socks, Telemundo distributed food and snacks, and many other vendors had booths with helpful information for the families.  Our lucky first person in line even won a brand new TV! (you can see her reaction here) It’s such an amazing feeling to provide such service to our community. We wanted to extend a special thank you to the following companies for their generous contributions: Operation Warm for giving away 1,200 coats, Sock it to ‘Em Campaign for giving away 6,550 pairs of socks, and Walgreens for giving 171 flu shots.  A total of 59,086 items went out the door on Saturday including our new Kenzi Bear. One participant had this to say about the event:

“....I want to say thank you so much! The teddy bears are something we’re going to cherish and have a special place for in our hearts forever... Especially my daughter MaKenzie. I am from Pueblo and I have a good size group that I'm pretty sure would love to volunteer if you had a Toy Shop in Pueblo. Please keep me updated. And again thank you so much for everything.” –Greatful Mom from Pueblo.

Knowing how much happiness and joy we deliver to these children and their families is why we continue providing these Toy Shops year after year.  We realize that gifts are not the meaning of the holiday season, but when you come from a family that doesn’t have much to begin with, receiving coats, socks, and a teddy bear can make all the difference for a child and their parents. We could not have reached these numbers without the support of the drop-off locations, sponsors, volunteers, and the generous donations you from all of you throughout the year. Thank you for helping us make the holidays brighter for children in Colorado and for honoring my daughter Kenzi for the 10th year. [srizonfbalbum id=1]