Helping toy drivers during the pandemic

Toy drives are dealing with covid this season and they are struggling to get the gifts they need.

POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS.THE COMPANIES SAY THEINFORMATION IS ANONMYOUS.FAMILIES ARE STRUGGLING MORETHIS YEAR THAN EVER... AND THOSEFAMILIES ARE RELYING ON TOYDONATIONS TO PUT SOME GIFTSUNDER THEIR TREES... AND TOYDRIVES THIS YEAR ARE GOING TOLOOK DIFFERENT BECAUSE OF THEPANDEMIC...SO IN ORDER TO REDUCE THE SPREADOF COVID-19, THEY ARE ASKING FONLINE DONATIONS INSTEAD OFIN-PERSON PRESENTS.

NEWSY’S MEGHILLING EXPLAINS.CGS: SARAH MURPHY Director ofDevelopment, Coalition for theHomeless KELLY WADE DonationsCoordinator, Ann and Robert H.Lurie Children’s Hospital ofChicago TAKE PKG: MEG: Be it abasketball, a teddy bear or somecoloring books, donating to aholiday toy drive is going tolook a bit different this year.SARAH MURPHY: Director ofDevelopment, Coalition for theHomeless "How do we make thiswork?

How do we still serve asmany kids as we possibly canwith the limitations that wehave?" MEG: Faced with socialdistancing recommendations toreduce the spread of COVID-19,toy drives all across the U.S.have had to rework how they willreceive donations.

SARAH MURPHY:Director of Development,Coalition for the Homeless "Wehave limited staff in theoffice, we couldn’t havevolunteers in the office." MEG:Sarah Murphy is the Director ofDevelopment for the Coalitionfor the Homeless, an advocacyand service organization workingto end homelessness in New YorkCity.

Murphy says this year, toydonations will only be acceptedvirtually through her team’sAmazon wish list.

SARAH MURPHY:Director of Development,Coalition for the Homeless"We’re having to really push thelist.

Because we want to makesure that we can fulfill allthese orders.

We’re working withapproximately 50 working wiapproximately 50 shelters acrossthe city, and, you know, havabout 7000 toy orders, and wehave to fill them before theholidays." MEG: Murphy’s teamisn’t alone in asking donors toselect a toy from a designatedlist and pay for it onlinerather than dropping it off inperson.

Hospitals around thecountry are doing the same, likethe Anne and Robert H.

LurieChildren’s Hospital of Chicago.KELLY WADE: DonationsCoordinator, Ann and Robert H.Lurie Children’s Hospital ofChicago "When you see items onour wish list, those are trulythe items that when we receivethem, they’re going to be putinto use immediately." MEG:Organizers of these toy drivessay donations are more importantthan ever.

SARAH MURPHY:Director of Development,Coalition for the Homeless "It’sbeen a tragic year for everyone,especially kids.

So, you know,this is just one small thingthat people can do to reallymake an impact.

KELLY WADE:Donations Coordinator, Ann andRobert H.

Lurie Children’sHospital of Chicago "Being ableto provide these incredibledonations to patients justreally creates that no