The University of North Carolina at Greensboro wants to make sure that kids in foster care have some presents to open just like most other kids do at this time of year.
On Monday, Dec. 12, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., UNCG Chancellor Franklin Gilliam, Jr. and Mrs. Jacquelean Gilliam – along with leaders from local partner organizations, alumni, staff, and friends of the university – will get together to collect toys for the children this holiday season.
The event – meant to spread Christmastime cheer – will take place at the UNCG Alumni House at 404 College Ave. in Greensboro. It will feature a parade of cars dropping off gifts at the “Toys for Joy” event.
During the collection drive, the Greensboro Chapter of the Links Inc., University Board of Trustees, and Alumni and Friends of the University will collect toys alongside the Gilliams, and those donations will then be displayed on the stairs of the UNCG Alumni House.
The annual “Toys for Joy” drive generally collects about 500 toys for Foster kids.
For this year’s event, UNCG partnered with the Greensboro Chapter of the Links and the United States Tennis Association of Greensboro to collect new, unwrapped toys for children 4 to 16 years of age.
The Family Room of the Triad will distribute the toys to children in foster care. The parade route begins along Spring Garden Street, turns onto Administration Drive and proceeds to the UNCG Alumni House where volunteers will retrieve donations.
The route concludes along College Avenue.
The Guilford County Department of Social Services has seen major increases in the number of kids in foster care over the past decade, and, like UNCG, that department also works to assure that kids in foster care don’t get left out when it comes to getting presents in the holiday season.
