Boy Scouts learn the joy of giving firsthand
A toy collection that started after Thanksgiving took on added meaning for students from Hersey High School and MacArthur Junior High School, all members of Boy Scout Troop 36 in Prospect Heights.
They positioned collection boxes at Eisenhower, Betsy Ross, Ann Sullivan and MacArthur schools, as well as at the Prospect Heights Elementary District offices, and in the end, they collected 800 toys -- far exceeding their goal of 500.
Their leaders had compiled a list of children's agencies in the Northwest suburbs, however, the first place they delivered them, ended up making the biggest impact.
The Scouts attended a holiday party at the Little City Foundation in Palatine, where they came face to face with the children on the other end of their drive.
In all, the Scouts exchanged approximately 150 gifts with the developmentally disabled clients, and they came away knowing the true meaning of giving, said Frank Davis, an adult volunteer from Prospect Heights.
"You should have seen their faces," Davis said. "They just got it."
Other agencies that received their gifts included Kirk School in Palatine, the Midwest Brain Tumor Clinic, in Park Ridge; Advocate Lutheran General Hospital's pediatric department, The Youth Campus in Park Ridge, Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, the Mental Health and Deafness Resource Center for Children in Northbrook, food pantries in Wheeling and Mount Prospect, Catholic Charities and the Salvation Army Shelter for women and children, both in Chicago; as well as a local PADS site in Prospect Heights.
"It was an enormous success," Davis said, "and what makes it even better, is that all of the locations where the toys were delivered were local."
The Scouts received support for the project from The 100% Foundation, which formed in 2003 to replace the 200 toys that were stolen from Aberdeen's Wedding Flowers in Chicago.
Foundation members now collect more than 10,000 toys each year to deliver to children's agencies, along with the more than a dozen more programs that aim to provide literacy and lifelong memories to Chicago-area children.