Amanda Larson of Elgin didn’t know about the annual Community Crisis Center toy giveaway until Thursday morning, when a friend called her about it.
Larson, of Elgin, and her baby daughter arrived about 9:30 a.m. to get in line at The Hemmens Cultural Art Center.
The single mother of two said the annual event, now in its 24th year, is crucial this Christmas after being laid off from a job in early November.
“I am trying to figure out a lot of different things,” said Larson, who listed her priorities as keeping a roof over her head and food on the table until she finds a new job. “I am happy that my kids are going to get anything,” under the Christmas tree, she said.
This year, the Community Crisis Center expects 1,000 families — and more than 3,000 area children — to receive gifts for Christmas because of the giveaway, said Melissa Owens, volunteer coordinator for the Elgin agency that partners with Toys for Tots.
“We get toys from their location collection sites,” Owens said.
Toys are also collected from local businesses, and many come in the way of donations from families or directly from local businesses.
One of those collection sites is the Grand Victoria Casino. This year, Owens said, an unidentified donor dropped off bags and bags of new toys. That one donation was valued at $5,000.
For the past four years, the event has also been able to give away bicycles thanks to one family’s donation. Each year, those unidentified donors drop off 20 bikes in honor of the 20 children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting.
The bikes are given out through a random raffle, pulled from the numbers given to parents as they line up at the Hemmens, Owens said.
To get presents, parents must show residency in Elgin or South Elgin and identification for their children — either a birth certificate or school registration forms.
This year, it seemed there were not only more toys, but more toys available for a wider range of ages, Owens said.
“We have toys for babies to toys for teenagers,” she said.
Teenagers are always harder to get gifts for via the giveaway — because teens tend to want electronics.
“Their toys become more expensive,” she said, and computers and tablets are not common donations. “It becomes more of a challenge,” Owens said.
To ensure that every family gets a shot at the “best toys,” all of the collected toys are not immediately put out for people to collect. They are stored behind curtains and restocked throughout the event, which began at 9 a.m. and continued to 6 p.m.
People began lining up on Wednesday morning and stayed through the night to be first in line, said Butch Wilhelmi, Hemmens’ manager.
When the doors opened at 8:30 a.m. there were about 150 people already in line.
Once families get their numbers, personal shoppers go through the tables filled with toys and other gifts big and small. The items are separated by age group and divided up by what typically appeals to boys or girls. Parents pick from each of the tables for the children they need presents for.
Several other area agencies also do toy drives or other events for area families, but the Crisis Center event is the largest.
This week, the Housing Authority of Elgin also held its annual “Smiles for Christmas” event, where the children of housing authority residents who have taken financial planning classes can receive a bicycle. The Elgin Police Department partners with the housing authority on that event, picking up the bikes and even registering each bike in case it is ever stolen or missing.
The Elgin Police Department also partners with the Crisis Center giveaway, talking to families and making sure rules are followed.
Larson, the single mom, sat away from the line for a few minutes so she could feed her daughter. Other people promised to save her spot for her.
Taking the help this year is hard, Larson said. But she said she is doing it for her kids.
“They are what is keeping me going.”
Janelle Walker is a freelance reporter for the Courier-News.
