WARSAW —  The massive toy collection effort – the first phase of the annual Toy Time program at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds began Monday morning.

The collection effort continues through Thursday.

The program is organized by Combined Community Services.

The public consignment sale runs, which is the result of the week long toy collection, is from 9 a.m. to 9 pm. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.

Money from those consignment sale is then used to buy new toys for the CCS toy giveaway.

Any toys that are appropriate — or needed — for a child will be accepted.

Last year, they collected more than 19,000 toys for the consignment said.

Amy Pitt, the CCS coordinator, compares the collection of toys this week to the movie Toy Story with a little bit of whimsy.

"Our hope is, the toys are sitting on the table and they're at a sale and they're all nervous because they've been removed from their home but now they're going to go into another home and go under a Christmas tree (again) and some new child is going to love them all over again," Pitt explained.

Toys are being being collected 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Thursday at the fairgrounds.

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WARSAW — Kosciusko County has two high-profile Christmas toy collection efforts and the organizers behind both are being profiled this week on In the Know, the public affairs show that can be heard this weekend. on Kensington Media radio stations.

The people behind the efforts are Ami Pitt, who leads the annual Toy Time program, and Chris Cage, the voice of Willie 103.5 who heads up the annual Toys for Tots.

Pitt is in her 30th year of running Toy Time, which she established 30 years ago this month shortly after she ventured into the Combined Community Services office back when it was still on Market Street.

At the time, she was pregnant with her third child and got involved with with a program called Project Independence, which eventually helped send her to college (She's now the director of that program).

One of her first tasks involved establishing a new toy program for CCS.

The first year, she said, involved supporting some 37 families but blossomed significantly over the years.

"Our end goal is to cover about 1,700 Kosciusko County children with Christmas gifts," Pitt said. "Our main goal is we want to give them Jesus — and toys. What better package can you have than that? Jesus and Toys."

In addition to a complex toy collection program, they also seek donations of Bibles that are also distributed to many of the families.

Toy Time happens over the course of ten days in December at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds. 

The first step is a the drop off of children's items (Dec. 11-14) followed by a consignment sale on Dec. 15. That's followed by a huge toy sale on Dec. 16, which generates money for the purchase of new toys that are distributed at the New Toy Giveaway on Dec. 19.

Meanwhile, Cage has been involved with Toys for Tots for for some 16 years as a result of his involvement in toy collection effort through Willie 103.5. He began overseeing the entire program in Kosciusko and Marshall Counties two years ago after David Morales stepped aside after some 20 year.

The toy collection effort involves two big projects.

WNDU will host its annual toy drive at 7 a.m. on Dec. 2 at Martin's Supermarket in Warsaw. Donations will be taken until 11 a.m.

The second is the toy drive by Willie 103. that runs from Dec. 4-8 with a live remote at the Meijer store in Warsaw from 6 a.m. to 6 p. m. each day.

The station is seeking both donated toys and monetary donations.

Toy Collections will be taken until Dec. 9th at any of the drop-off sites across the community.

Both Pitts and Cage said they are seeing signs that the need for support the toy programs appears to be greater than recent years due to the economy. 

As of Wednesday, about 180 families had signed up, Cage said.

“We know there’s a need in the community and we need to step up and the community always does,” Cage said.

* * * 

To learn more about Toy Time, check out the website.

To learn more about Toys For Tots, check out their website

The post Toy Time, Toys For Tots rev up for another season appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

WARSAW — Staff at Combined Community Services is always busy, but they’re moving into overdrive as the holiday season approaches.

In this week’s News Now Warsaw's public affairs show, In The Know, CCS Executive Director Randy Poston discusses several upcoming programs including the two-day Food-A-Thon, which returns on Nov. 10 and 11 at the CCS headquarters on Mariners Drive in Warsaw.

The food drive is a key part of CCS’s success in assisting families during the holidays who are struggling with food insecurity, Polston said.

The program relies on individual donations, but also has the support of sponsorships and corporate involvement, Polston said.

You can learn more about the program at the CCS website.

Polston also recapped three other longstanding programs, including the county-wide coat drive headed up by Kerlin Motors, which is underway at four locations (including Kensington Media offices at 116 W. Market St., Warsaw) and continues until Oct. 27

CCS is also preparing for other Holiday-related services including the 30th Annual Adopt A Family program (sign up begins Nov. 1) and the 30th annual Toy Time, which returns on Dec. 11.

Check out this weekend's In the Know for more details or visit the CCS website to learn more.

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