Community Corner

Toy Donations Down in Tough Economy

Shelves are "woefully thin," especially for gifts for young girls.

For nearly 20 years, a local nonprofit has been helping to make Christmas for financially struggling families a little brighter. Toy Express, an organization that serves Chicago's western suburbs, collects new, unwrapped gifts at local fire departments to be offered to families on financial assistance in DuPage County.

Beginning in October, staff members of local social service agencies call families living below the poverty level to see if they are in need of help at Christmas. Local fire departments, including Elmhurst, collect the presents and bring them to the Toy Express "store," and the families get a scheduled appointment time to come in and "shop." For the past five years the storefront location for Toy Express has been at Lake Hinsdale Commons shopping plaza at 63rd Street and Route 83 in Willowbrook.

"From the very beginning, they thought families would be interested in being able to choose from the gifts donated—whatever sparked interest in their little one," said Cindy Bokhart, who along with her husband, Chris, has volunteered with Toy Express for more than 15 years.

A parade follows, in which participating fire departments escort Santa to the storefront to greet children. Dave Zalesiak, a fire marshal with Tri-State Fire Protection District, has played the part of Santa for more than 15 years.

"[My favorite part of the day] is when Santa gets off the firetruck, and there’s children running to him with smiles and telling him they love him and have been waiting for him all year," said Zalesiak.

The organization typically collects between $75,000 and $100,000 worth of gifts a year and has distributed them to more than 25,000 children in DuPage County. But this year, the organization is in desperate need of toys or cash donations. Chris Bokhart said the effect of the bad economy is being seen across DuPage.

"Donations are down massively. Two years ago we had $100,000 worth of donations. Last year, it was $65,000, but it's too early to say whether we can rebound or not," he said. "Our shelves are woefully thin for gifts for young girls—those [age] 4 to 8 and 9. We need dolls."

Toy Express now has 22 volunteers and 14 collection sites. , 209 N. York St., is a collection site for the Elmhurst Fire Department. One fire fighter from each participating fire department volunteers to help make sure donations make it to Toy Express.

Collection boxes stay out until Dec. 27. Bokhart said many donations will come in after Christmas.

"People find that rather than standing in lines to return something to a store, sometimes it's better and easier to donate it somewhere it can be used," he said.

Bokhart and his wife found out about Toy Express through their son, who volunteered to help as an Eagle Scout. He said one of the most inspiring parts of volunteering is seeing people who had previously been helped, give back.

"Somebody you helped in one year calls up the next year and says, 'I'm [back] on my feet. I want to volunteer and help others.' Every year we get someone like that," Bokhart said.


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