WE ARE REPUBLISHING THIS STORY WITH THE FINALE TODAY:
By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
Every child deserves a good Christmas holiday, and a local radio host hopes to help.
The Gregg Lynn Christmas for Kids Toy Drive is back for its 21st year, gathering toys and donations to help give toys to children who might not have a very merry Christmas.
JoeTown 107.5's Gregg Lynn says when the toy drive began, he helped out the Noyes Home. Lynn says the toy drive has helped him come to some striking realizations.
"A couple things, one there was a kid there that first year at the Noyes Home who had never had a Christmas tree in his house, he had never had one, never seen one, and he was a teenager," Lynn tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. "And the thing that struck me also was that, over the course of a few years, kids that were the same kids every year that were still there."
Since that first year serving the Noyes Home children, the toy drive has also brought on helping the YWCA, children in foster care, and Adopt-A-Family.
Lynn who hosts the Gregg Lynn Morning Show on JoeTown 107.5 says there are a number of community members he sees every year that support the toy drive.
"People that will buy all the gifts for five kids or even ten kids and they do it every single year, and they'll even start contacting me in November hey when are the lists going up so we can look at them and pick the kids out," Lynn says.
And Lynn also receives support from several local businesses every year
"We have businesses that have sponsored and helped with this and donated money for many, many, many years," Lynn points out.
And with that combined passion for the toy drive, Lynn says it encourages him to keep doing it
"You know, I'm not going to stop until someone tells me to stop," Lynn says.
Toys can be donated for the toy drive at the JoeTown studios. People can also donate money online or in change jars at locally owned businesses.
The finale of the toy drive will be held on Black Friday, November 25th at East Hills Mall. Lynn says Black Friday is a good time to hold the finale with all the shoppers already out and about
"We're able to convince people hey you're out buying and you're spending a ton of money, spend twenty extra dollars and bring a toy to us, and it works out pretty well that people take a few minutes," Lynn says. "And they're serious, Black Friday shoppers are very serious, they have their day planned exactly where they're going to be, at what time, or what specials going on, but they figure out a time that they can sneak out and swing by and bring us a toy."
Wish lists for toys can be found on the Gregg Lynn Radio Show Facebook page.
