Lucas County Children Services and Friends of LCCS provide gifts to nearly 2,000 Toledo-area children during the winter holiday season. So we were excited to be part of the 2021 WTOL 11 Gift of Joy gift drive sponsored by PNC Bank.

The drive, which began November 19 and ran through December 22, collected donated gifts for children under 18. WTOL 11 promoted the event on its station and invited viewers to drop off new and unwrapped toys and gifts at various collection sites.

On December 9, WTOL 11 hosted a “Downtown Toy Drop” in the station’s parking lot on North Summit Street. Donors could drive up with their gifts in their vehicles‘ trunks, and station personnel would retrieve the toys and ensure a touchless drop-off.

Participants also had the option to shop online and send their donations to WTOL using Click It, Ship It, Gift It.

The gift recipients were children under the care or supervision of LCCS. The gifts presented by LCCS are often the only gifts those children receive at holiday time.

Other Gift of Joy events benefitting LCCS included: a Community Bike Build at which area firefighters assembled bicycles they gifted to LCCS; Shred For A Toy, where Allshred Services provided free shredding in exchange for donating a new, unwrapped toy; and Toy-A-Thon hosted by iHeartMedia radio stations WRVF and WVKS to collect toys, clothes, and monetary donations.