How to host a toy drive

We have had a few schools hold toy and pajama drives for us and we thought we'd give you a step-by-step process in the event you wanted to organize one as well! These details can also be used to organize a drive at your workplace or business. Read about of one of the past school drives, and a touching example of student involvement.

Brier Elementary had the support of the
Principal and Student Council

·  Contact Pam Martinez (425-673-0526) and let her know of your plans, discuss details. Plan your drive for the week before the Holly House event to minimize storage issues. 

·  Work with school administration and PTA to make sure they are on board. 

·  Offer your time and support to fully execute the drive; this alleviates any pressure for someone to say "no" since you're volunteering to do the work. 

·  Get some upper grade level students to paint some signs a few weeks before and post them around school. Include it in the PTA newsletter the month/weeks before. 

·  Enlist the help of the student council - they may be able to make daily morning announcements a few days before and the week of the drive. If your school has a Facebook page, use that to post updates and reminders. 

·  Create a project meter or tally (a thermometer goal, or number of boxes collected count, etc). Set a goal of # of boxes filled, or number of items collected, number of students supported, etc. We recommend not offering incentives, but rather help kids feel good about their participation. 

·  Be mindful of the fact that many students at your school may qualify to be a participant in Holly House, and may have nothing to give, but may be very willing to give their time somehow (encouraging participation, making signs, standing in collection zone, etc) 

·  Set up brightly colored (wrapped in holiday paper) boxes in the Office or Library. Make sure they have a sign for when they are unattended. Have someone stand at a box in the drop off/pick up area morning and afternoon, perhaps wearing a funny hat or with a big sign. These are your cheerleaders, friendly faces to help people remember why they are donating. 

School families sorting donations gathered
over the week in a volunteer's garage

·  If the school doesn't have room to store the items (or doesn't want to be responsible), transport the items to a location off site daily, but tally the items so the students can still visually see progress somehow. 

·  Keep in mind that Holly House currently has no permanent storage facility, so it is preferred that you keep the items and deliver them to the Holly House event itself rather than having us find a place to store them. (Someone's garage works well for the week). 

·  Sort the toys - stuffed animals, games, teen gifts, pajamas, etc. Create an inventory to give to Holly House including # of toys and clothing items and estimated value (you can use an average cost!). You do NOT need to inventory each item separately, just a count is fine. 

·  Arrange drop off the morning of the first day of the event. Bring your donation and see what Holly House is all about at the same time. It may take several car-loads if you're successful! Plan to caravan and make an event of it. 

·  Organize members of your school to volunteer for the Holly House event and help to set up for the event and/or work the day of the shopping event, and/or clean up. It's a 3 day project and we need LOTS of hands to move in and out of a gymnasium, while at the same time creating a holiday wonderland for our clients. 

Toy delivery to Holly House - what a good feeling!!

Holly House currently only collects new toys for distribution - sports equipment and teen gifts are especially needed. New pajamas, socks, and underwear are also popular items to collect at drives.