Ontario Community Events & partners present Dec. 8 toy drive

ONTARIO — Kenn Spencer wants to bring the City of Ontario together to teach children the importance of giving back.

“We can get caught up in what we get for our kids, or kids can start thinking ‘what will I get’ for Christmas,” the Ontario Community Events director said. “But what I want to do with this event as a community is to teach our kids the valuable life lesson of giving.”

Ontario Community Events is partnering with The Ontario Center, the Springfield Township Fire Department and other organizations for the Giving Ontario toy drive this year. The toy drive has multiple drop-off locations and an Amazon wishlist available for donors to participate in through Dec. 18.

The drive will also host a special event Dec. 8 from noon to 6 p.m. at The Ontario Center. For each gift someone brings in that day, they will be entered into a raffle to win an Ontario Warriors football helmet signed by the 2023-24 team, and an Ohio State Buckeyes helmet signed by Bodpegn Miller.

Discount Drug Mart is also presenting a donation check to Giving Ontario at the event, and Bodpegn Miller will be signing autographs for toy donors from 1 to 3 p.m. The Miss Ontario court will be at the event from noon to 1 p.m.

Spencer said parents who can’t afford to donate a toy are still welcome at the event.

“We all want to teach our kids the importance of giving back, so you can call us and we will work with you to bring a toy in that someone else has already donated if you’re not in the economic space to afford it right now,” he said.

Ontario Community Events can be contacted at 419-295-1807, or info@oysports.com. Spencer said Ontario Community Events and the fire department have been collecting names of families who need gifts this year from Richland County Children Services, as well as churches, schools and nonprofits.

“We’ll contact the family once we get their information and find out what ages their kids are and what their families need,” he said. “We’ll do the best we can to meet their needs for their kids. And we don’t want the kids getting the toys to know that it came from us, we want to be behind-the-scenes. 

“We’ll deliver the presents to the parents and the kids can wake up and think Santa got me this or mom and dad got me this.”

Spencer said the toys collected for Giving Ontario aren’t limited to just Ontario families either, and that Ontario Community Events is willing to distribute them around Richland County.