Toy drives have been a staple of the holiday season for decades, as a way for those with some time and money to spare to help those who often times do not have either.
The Auburn Toy Drive, put on each year by Auburn Public Safety and the City of Auburn, has been going on for over 40 years. This year was one of the biggest ever, with over 600 children served through donations from the community. Esperanza House helped connect 82 of those children to the drive so that they will have toys for the holidays.
“These families, if it wouldn’t be for the drive, they would not have toys,” said Odalys Silvera, president and founder of Esperanza House. “They wouldn’t have the things that they, not that they need but things that every kid would love on Christmas, so thankful for the community, they will be able to have these toys.”
Esperanza House is a local nonprofit that offers educational, healthcare, and daily living support programs for Hispanic families in Lee County. Silvera said the organization currently has 85 families and 278 children in total.
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Esperanza House connects Hispanic families with toy drive
“We have the Hispanic community here, and they really didn’t know how to go about it. They didn’t know how to be connected. They didn’t know how to fill out a form or how to do things like that or they probably didn’t qualify,” Silvera said. “So we made it kind of like the bridge to meet the families with the police department in order for them to be able to receive the toys.”…