Cal’s Angels 2nd Annual Toy Drive Update

First – a huge THANK YOU to all of our friends and supporters who collected and/or donated toys, games, arts, crafts and other items for our second annual toy drive (click here for a list of participants).

Words cannot describe our excitement in seeing how many folks joined in on the 2nd Annual Cal’s Angels Toy Drive for the Oncology/Hematology and Day Hospital patients Children’s Memorial Hospital.  With 16 business sponsors’ locations accepting items and 5 private parties requesting that their guests bring something to donate to Cal’s Angels, we tripled the amount of toys collected in 2008 – easily over $10,000 worth, how awesome is that!?!  McGrath Honda of St. Charles jumped on board and not only filled Stacey’s Suburban to the brim, but the sales manager had to make a separate trip with items that wouldn’t fit.  A special THANK YOU to owner Gary McGrath and Chief Operating Officer John Francek for being our largest collector of items!

With toys overflowing, Tom and Stacey are eager to get their living room back so dates were confirmed with Children’s Memorial Hospital for deliveries.  So far, we’ve made two trips to the city with a complete Suburban full each time and we’re not done, there’s at least two to go.   
I myself delivered toys on January 20th with Tom and Stacey.  I was thrilled to be going and couldn’t wait to see the smiles on the children’s faces as they picked out anything and everything they wanted from the cart of goodies we first stationed outside the oncology unit then pushed over to the day hospital.  I never would have thought that each one of those smiles would bring me so much sadness and, at the same time, extreme joy just knowing we really brightened the days of so many children in one way or another.  Seeing their little faces light up as that special toy, cool game or “must have” craft caught their eye was a gift in itself.   And the true gift for all of us is knowing that in the middle of so much pain and sickness, we were able to give each and every one of those kids a break from the battle they had ahead of them – that day was short but yet packed with powerfully amazing feelings.  We were all a part of that moment – a moment that will not soon be forgotten!

THANK YOU again to everyone who participated in one way or another for enabling us to truly continue Cal’s legacy of always caring about others above anything else – you all have a special place in the hearts of these kids!