Stephanie Bean of Aurora has two children who are going to have a much better Christmas this year, thanks to the efforts of the Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry and its partners.
“This pantry is amazing. I come here every week for food and now they have this,” Bean said Wednesday morning before a huge Christmas toy giveaway at the facility at 1110 Jericho Road in Aurora. “I don’t know what to expect because I never saw anything like this, but it will definitely help my whole family. I saw signs posting this and I signed up the first day. My kids are going to be very excited.”
Parents and children alike left the pantry Wednesday with something to smile about as a four-hour toy donation giveaway was held, courtesy of Toys for Tots in partnership with Tackle Hunger, a national nonprofit that works to fight food insecurity in the United States.
According to officials, a truckload of more than 20 pallets of toys that came directly from Hasbro’s facilities and then donated to Toys for Tots were brought to the food pantry as a result of it being listed “in Tackle Hunger’s Hunger Map.”
Aurora Area Interfaith Food Pantry Development and Communications Manager Francis Cedro said this was the first year the giveaway has been offered “after the food pantry’s director of development Heather Short was contacted about the work” the pantry does in the community.
“Tackle Hunger is an organization that focuses on empowering food pantries which is probably why we were selected,” Cedro said. “They told us we have some toys that were donated through Toys for Tots and we were selected as a distributor.”
An estimated 350 families were expected to attend the giveaway, officials said.
“Families will come in and we’ll handle this like a regular distribution including having volunteers on hand to assist with the event,” Cedro said. “People will be allowed to select toys. It won’t be a random gift.”
Eddie Galvan, program director for the pantry, said the distribution was limited to five children per household and that the number of toys per child “would depend on how many kids show up.”
“The goal is to have everybody get some type of toy,” he said.
Along with the donated toys, 300 stockings filled by a church in Aurora were also available at the event.
Aurora resident Joann Vanslobig, who said she has been volunteering at the pantry since before the pandemic, was excited about the event.
“This is wonderful. We are very fortunate that people donate to us. We have been blessed,” she said.
Hope Ramirez, also of Aurora, who started volunteering at the pantry in April, said this week’s toy giveaway was a big deal.
“I didn’t know what I was walking into when I first came by here. I’m feeling the holiday for sure,” she said. “When I saw this truck pull in with all the toys, it was huge. It was filled from top to bottom. I was overwhelmed by how much there was. If I was a kid I would love this.”
Rich Adams of Aurora said he was at the pantry to get gifts for his four grandchildren.
“I’ve got more but we don’t get anything for them as they’re older,” Adams said. “This is going to help out as far as getting gifts, that’s for sure. Whatever they have is going to be great for me.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
