We had another successful toy drive! Most of the businesses that collected toys for our drive outdid themselves this year. Quite a few of them filled their boxes. Thank you to the following organizations and businesses that collected toys for our Stuff a Plane Charity Toy Drive:
Ark Christian Preschool 34558 Ave. E Yucaipa
Arthurs Restaurant 1913 Mentone Blvd. Mentone
Best Choice Products 15101 Red Hill Ave. Tustin
Citrus Valley High School Computer Science 800 W. Pioneer Ave, Redlands
City of Redlands Airport Lobby – 1745 Sessums Dr. & City Hall – 35 Cajon St. Redlands
Crown Ace Hardware 12157 5th St. Yucaipa
Denny’s Restaurants 2442 Highland Ave. Highland, 1190 S. Mt. Vernon Ave. Colton, 1180 Alabama St. Redlands, 110 W. Redlands Blvd. Redlands
Fitness 19 34448 Yucaipa Blvd. Yucaipa
Indian Motorcycle of Redlands 215 E. Redlands Blvd. Redlands
Kuehne + Nagel 9425 Nevada St. Redlands
Lovely Nails & Spa 34060 W County Line Rd. Yucaipa
RASelectronics 1032 Orange St. Redlands
Tractor Supply 1060 Calimesa Blvd. Calimesa
Redlands Elks Lodge #583 663 New York St. Redlands
Rialto Rotary Club & Fontana-Rialto Elks Lodge
SoCal Jeep Gladiator Owners
Attendees from our local communities that came to our event were also very generous with their toy donations. Additionally, RAA members also donated toys and $600 that were used to buy toys at Mattel and Amazon. In general, we did not collect as many toys as we did last year, but we still filled The Salvation Army San Bernardino Corps truck. We also had some very generous cash donations to The Salvation Army from RAA members and the Redlands Police Officers Association. Thank you to all that donated.
Saturday was a picture-perfect day to finish our toy drive. We started the grill at 8:30 with sausages and pancakes and switched over about 10:30 to start grilling burgers and hotdogs. We had some really good cooks and servers!
We had some great volunteers this year. In addition to RAA members, we had CAP cadets from Redlands Cadet Squadron 411, and a couple of volunteers from the Coast Guard Auxiliary. All these volunteers helped everything go smoothly. EAA Chapter 845 had 4 pilots who flew 22 kids, so they were very busy. The LifeStream blood mobile was on site for those wishing to donate blood.
The Salvation Army was onsite all day, and they were very happy with the outcome. If you would like to help them with their distribution efforts, the Salvation Army would welcome volunteers. You simply need to show up on December 12th thru the 15th from 9am – 3pm at their leased facility at 295 North Leland Norton Way in San Bernardino. It’s on the north side of San Bernardino Airport. They will be sorting toys for families that have registered to receive help for the holidays. Volunteering for something like this is very rewarding during the holiday season.
Finally on December 19th, from 9am – 3pm at the same address, you can witness the distribution to the families. The Salvation Army gives each family toys and a box of food. It’s nice to see those in need receive this help.
Pictures have been posted on our website. Here is the link for photos with some of our collection box sponsors: 2023 Stuff a Plane Collection Box Sponsors Here is the link for photos taken by some of our members of the event: 12-2-23 Stuff a Plane Charity Toy Drive Event
Thank you to all that contributed, volunteered, and attended to make this another successful toy drive!