2020 Toys for Tikes

2020 Success Report

If you did not believe in Christmas Miracles….. this year was a year to make you a believer! Back in October at our initial meeting, you all heard/felt the nervousness and concern in the sound of my voice about the unknown with toys and revenue, the lack of sponsorship, and certainly expecting the high demands for toys from our charities during the pandemic.

Well, as I am sitting here in my office reviewing the highlights and looking at the number of communities that WE helped out in 2020, I realized what a great organization we have built together in the past 7 years.

So here are the highlights of 2020:

• Took in almost $30K since November. Highest revenue in a very short time of TFPT history.
• Took on a Platinum Plus Sponsor (Plum Line) and new Gold Sponsor (InsulRight)
• Not only did we take care of our normal list of charities, but we also took on : Children With Breast Cancer, Gateway Family Foundation, 4 different locations for FFEHS, and the biggest – 8 police departments who combined their toy giveaways in Edgewood Town Center
• Met all the requests from charities, which some have doubled since last year – “East End was at 575 toys in 2019, and this year we donated almost 1500 when they requested 1000 toys”
  Outstanding drive by Cathleen Griffith to raise over $4,000 on Rt. 22 with assistance of Monroeville Area Chamber.
• Added Make up kits and clothing was a huge hit this year.
• Our first joint venture with Monroeville Area Chamber of Commerce (Sean Logan and Kelly Meredith)
• Absolute blessing to have the Seruga family donating their warehouse this year along with their time to sort all of the toys for the entire month of December
• All the drivers: Keiter from Keiter Kars my #1 go to driver, Greg from Elite always there for us, Harold from ServPro, of course the crew from Plum Line, and many other personal friends and volunteers
• Record Toy collection! Not only did we purchase thousands of toys, we emptied our toy trailer four times with many quality toys, plus we still have a warehouse full of toys to start of the new year strong.
• 13+ pallets of toys, two box trucks full of toys from “Toys For Tots” donated to our organization as they had no home for their toys, and they stated that “We (TFPT) are much organized and well managed”
• Harold Katofsky’s continued support and connection not only with Monroeville VFD but directing us to charities who need our services

SO, for not being able to put toy collection boxes anywhere, not being able to place cash donation boxes at any location, not being able to do any social contact in order to keep all of our volunteers safe, and finally – not being able to do our normal routine to run our organization, I think we did extremely WELL in 2020.

THANK YOU ALL for your support year after year. I know none of us are ever looking for a pat on the back, but I sincerely want to express my appreciation to every one of you for always being there on a moment’s notice and fulfilling my requests always last minute due to our overwhelming demands from all of our charities.

I always say we have an army of TFPT behind us; we honestly DO. You ALL made it happened in your own way and delivered when I thought this year was going to be a huge challenge. I am extremely proud to say WE HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE in many families’ lives, and most importantly for all of the local children in undeniably the most challenging year – 2020. We are truly the BIGGEST distributor of toys in 2020 in our great city, and that is something you should be very proud of.

For that…. I THANK YOU. I appreciate you, and I am honored to have you as part of our team. We are untouchable and certainly unbeatable.

Some goals/notes for 2021:

• We now have a great head start for 2021 with toys
• We will be looking to purchase a trailer for TFPT
• We will organize and pre-plan our distribution in advance throughout the year Thank to the Seruga Family. Deanna has a PLAN J
• 380 Auction continues to be not only a partner of ours for the past 7 Years, but will assist us in years to come
• Focus on clothing, games, and books, along with toys in 2021

We are truly blessed that we can do this for our community. I wish you all the BEST 2021 can offer, along with much happiness and health for you and your families.

We Need Your Help in 2021!

Whatever you can afford helps us buy toys for kids who otherwise wouldn’t have them during the holidays. Toys for Pittsburgh Tikes is a 501 C3 non-profit organization staffed by volunteers, so you know your donation has maximum impact for the kids!