By OLIVIA BERGMEIER
Salina Post
Every year, parents worldwide aim to fill the base of their family Christmas tree with colorful wrapped gifts for a memorable Christmas morning.
Many parents stress getting their children gifts for Christmas, and in Salina, hundreds of families found some relief when budgeting for this holiday season.
Over the weekend, Voice of 99KG Shane McClintock hosted the annual Shane McClintock's Toyathon at Walmart in town and camped overnight until the community donated more than 5,000 toys.
"Anybody can donate food, pasta, or toys, too, but what's the focus behind it?" McClintock said. "I think there has to be a genuine intent that people have to believe in... so I think it's just unique."
The group began at 11 a.m. Saturday, hoisting up the large signs to inform visitors about the Toyathon's progress.
McClintock, U.S. Marine Sgt. Brandon Uhrich and 910KINA Program Director Chris Cadle, also known as "Beaver" on 99KG, would count the toys and update the signs every hour. By 9 p.m., the group had raised more than half their goal on Saturday with 3,227 toys.
After counting the toys each hour, McClintock said the group would then load the toys into a semi provided by Doug Bradley Trucking to transport to local charity groups.
The Toyathon donates to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Salina, Child Advocacy Parenting Services, Catholic Charities, Domestic Violence Association of Central Kansas, The Ashby House, the Salina Area United Way and a few other local organizations.
McClintock began the Toyathon a decade ago, bringing the idea from Wichita to Salina when he started as a personality at 99KG. He said one of the most significant impacts for local agencies is the volume of toys the Toyathon provides.
"If agencies put on a toy drive, they'll probably get 30, 40 toys. We'll give them 1,000," McClintock said. "If they do a toy drive, they'll seriously get maybe 50 toys, and we'll give them to truckload — it's just a huge."
One of the agencies that receives toys from the donation event, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Salina, BBBS, can give toys to each of the families they serve in Saline County and often donate more to community members outside the organization.
Amanda Otto, CEO of BBBS, said after each of the 200 children involved with the agency gets a gift or a few, they open up their toy donation to all community members.
"The generous response that the Toyathon gets allows us to open that up to everybody and not have to select and choose which families in our program get to come grab a toy," Otto said. "We open up the Toyathon to where if we have a family that's not in our program that we know is struggling and just doesn't know where to go, we absolutely let them come pick out a toy because that's what it's all about."
Otto said BBBS does not budget each year for toys because the community response to the Toyathon allows the agency to spend the money on other community programs or help for families.
"We don't have any funding or budget line items that we designate for the toy giveaway," Otto said. "It's all based on the toys and the large number of donated toys during this time. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to do this."
The impact of the Toyathon spreads to not only the children of the community but also the parents, who find some relief during the stressful holiday season thanks to the Toyathon.
Cadle said that the donations impact parents just as much as the children on Christmas morning, with families sharing the season's joy.
"Getting a present is one thing, but giving that present — when your kid opens up a present, and you know you got it for them, and their face lights up, that is amazing," Cadle said. "I think that might be more so why I do it nowadays is not only for the kid but for the parents too because now their parents get to see their kid have that moment."
This week, local agencies will spread the toys across the community, bringing a bit of holiday joy to each family they help. The Toyathon distributed 5,162 toys to local organizations this year.
"I think it's something that we all take for granted," Otto said. "To be able to bring that sense of joy and that smile on the kid's face — I hope everybody that donates one toy really understands that that act did bring a smile to a kid's face."