City of Allen leaders are calling on the community to help collect toys for 2,000 local children—double the number of Allen kids usually registered through the Toys for Tots program.
During the December 8 meeting, council members encouraged residents to help meet this enormous need by dropping off new, unwrapped toys to ACO by Friday, December 11.
“These are some of the same kids whose parents are coming off of not having a job. These are some of the same kids who don’t know where they may be living come the first of the year. These are the same kids whose parents are in long lines at Allen Community Outreach to get food,” said Councilmember Baine Brooks.
As part of his commitment to donate his $625 monthly salary to a local non-profit, Allen Mayor Ken Fulk dropped off a check to Collin County Toys for Tots during a drive-through donation event at Allen Event Center on December 8.
“I highly encourage people to donate toward this effort. They are way behind and right now and don’t even have one toy per kid. That means someone is not getting toys. And that’s a sad thing to let that happen in our community,” said Mayor Fulk.
Toys may be dropped off at any toy drop site or directly to ACO at one of these locations:
- ACO Processing Center (2 Butler Drive, behind Allen City Hall)
- ACO Offices (801 E. Main Street)
In an email to supporters of ACO, CEO Marjorie Vaneskahian Burr wrote:
In past years, ACO has prided ourselves in providing new toys and gifts to children and matching their wants with the toy donations. They have been given several awesome toys, stocking stuffers and more. For many of these kids, this is the ONLY TIME of year they receive anything, and certainly anything new.
In a year when our children struggled to learn and attend school with COVID lurking, and were limited in who they could play with and where they could go, and had to watch their parents struggle to pay bills and keep jobs, it is NOT the year to let them down at Christmastime.
Not sure what to buy? Check out the ACO Holiday Wishlist for ideas for all ages.