30TH YEAR: KARL CHEVROLET IS 2011 TOYS FOR TOTS CO-SPONSOR
Last Year KARL Coordinated Regional Program that Collected More than 1/4 of the 20,000 Toys Distributed in Lower Fairfield County
NEW CANAAN, CT – (November 21, 2011) –
If you have young children, Toys for Tots offers an exceptional way to teach your kids about giving and thinking of others less fortunate. Just take your kids shopping, allow them to choose a toy or two that they would want, and then bring them to our showroom and have them deposit the toy in our Toys for Tots collection truck. Your kids will experience the joy of buying a toy they want and then the greater joy of giving it away to someone who needs it more.
KARL is teaming up with Cox Radio’s 95.9 The Fox to help promote this year’s Toys for Tots collection. KARL employees will be helping to collect toys from other participating area drop-off sites, including First County Bank branches, Palmers Market, and Donut Delight locations.
Toys will also be collected during the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce’s Holiday Stroll on December 3 at the New Canaan Toy Store on Park Street. Toys will be donated during the New Canaan Young Women’s League’s Breakfast with Santa on December 10, as well.
In addition to assisting with toy collection, KARL employees will also provide toy sorting assistance at the Toys for Tots distribution center in Stamford.
This will be the thirtieth year that truckloads of new toys for underprivileged children in area communities will be collected at the New Canaan dealership, one of the region’s oldest sponsors of Toys for Tots. “Year in and year out, KARL has been our largest donor,” said Mr. Ducanic, who is marking his nineteenth year as the regional coordinator of Toys for Tots.
“There are many worthwhile holiday programs that help the underprivileged, but the Toys for Tots program really struck a chord with us. It’s hard to think of a child waking up on Christmas morning with no presents. Even one or two toys can bring such a happy smile,” observed Leo Karl III, President of the KARL Chevrolet Company.
“The holidays are a time to show that we care about one another. While the Toys for Tots Program is all about giving toys, I believe the real message to these kids is that there are people out there who care about you. We are so fortunate to be in a community full of very generous individuals, and we are simply here to help facilitate all that goodwill. It is an honor to be involved with such a great cause,” Mr. Karl said.
“George Ducanic and his crew do an incredible job, sorting all the toys for different age categories and then delivering them to meet the requests. We can’t thank him enough. With his help, in many years we’ve been able to extend the deadline – how can we say ‘no’ to a donation when we know it will make one more child happy?” added Stephen J. Karl, Vice President of the KARL Company
There is always a long list of toy requests. Toys for Tots volunteers distribute the toys to more than 70 area organizations, starting with the 350 Christmas party for 350 children and concluding in early January with several Three Kings Day celebrations, including the Latino Foundation’s party for 350 children at the Rogers School. “I anticipate there will be more requests from area agencies than ever this holiday season, but people have always been very generous. The community always comes through with the toys, especially for young children,” Mr. Ducanic observed. “We always need more toys for babies 6 months to a year, and for older children up to age 12,” he noted.
Mr. Ducanic, a United States Navy Korean War veteran, volunteered for Toys for Tots for fifteen years before becoming regional coordinator. He works with a team of about two dozen volunteers from Stamford’s American Legion Post 3, VFW Post 9716 and the American Legion Baseball Team to ensure that the toys reach the children. BLT Management has donated storefront space at 711 Canal Street in Stamford for this year’s regional program.
Toys for Tots, which launched its sixty-fourth annual campaign this month, began in 1947 when Major Bill Hendricks, USMCR and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5000 toys to needy children. In the program’s 63 years, more than 436 million toys have been distributed to 202 million children throughout the United States.
For more information, call KARL Chevrolet at 966-9508 (toll-free at 1-800-321-KARL), or call KARL Automotive Service of Greenwich at (203) 637-1711. Founded in 1927, the KARL Chevrolet Dealership is located at 261 Elm Street in New Canaan, one block west of the Metro North station; KARL Automotive Service of Greenwich is located at 1330 East Putnam Avenue, just off I-95 exit 5. Visit the KARL Dealership on the Internet at www.karldirect.com, read its blog at www.karldirect.com/blog, or follow it on Twitter or Facebook.
