Glendora Raises Over 500 City of Hope Gifts

Glendora City News, together with residents and local businesses, raised 508 gifts for children at City of Hope. In addition to toys, there were gift cards and some cases of batteries. This was all done for children going through treatment at City of Hope in Duarte. On Friday afternoon, the gifts were delivered and formally donated, in front of the Spirit of Life Fountain, on behalf of Glendora Residents.

Glendora City News and the Glendora Chamber of Commerce teamed up through social media asking residents to join us in our goal to raise 300 toys. As you can see, not only did we meet the goal , but we exceeded it by well over 200 toys.

Mary Koenig, Senior Director of Development and Employee Giving, was on hand to officially accept the donation along with many staff to help unload and move the large amount of toys.

“City of Hope is deeply honored to be the recipient of these wonderful toy donations.”, said Koenig.

There were many stuffed animals donated, which are not allowed to be given to the children. Koenig explained that they will actually use the stuffed animals to strap to the treatment machines to “warm” the children up to them and give the children something comforting to look at while they go through these secessions.

Local businesses were vital in allowing multiple drop off spots for residents and even offering discounts to participants. We would like to say thank you to Grand Burger, Glendora Florist, Envy Me Fashions, Tony’s Auto Repair, Main Event Salon, Bobbi Pins Salon, Southland Properties, Glendora Rotary and T Phillip’s for their support.

Tony’s Auto Repair, on Route 66, happened to see the flyer on Facebook and was one of the first businesses to reach out and offer assistance. Cat Batham, co-owner of Tony’s Auto Repair, was excited to give back.

“Christmas is all about the kids for us. So when we heard about the toy drive for City of Hope, we knew we wanted to help”, said Batham.

On hand to deliver the toys with me were Joe Cina of the Glendora Chamber along with Gary Boyer of Southland Properties. Some of the gifts donated included toys, puzzles, games, action figures, coloring books and almost any other things kids would want.

Thank you so much to all of the businesses and residents of Glendora for joining me in this toy drive. I never imagined we would get so much participation. I have said it before, we may be a small community but together we are strong.

~Zak Bushey