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Elder Serves – Toy Shop

THANK YOU!

Thank You to everyone who participated in our Christmas Together Toy Drive and Toy Shop this year!  It was a huge success with nearly 150 families receiving toys this Christmas thanks to your generosity.  Many lives were touched by your participation and 350 kids will have toys to open and books to read on Christmas day thanks to you giving of your time, talent, and/or treasure.  And because of your generosity, many additional children will be helped with the toys that were not distributed on Saturday at the shop.

Special thanks to…

  • Elder families, students, teachers, staff, and friends of Elder who donated toys and other gifts to the Toy Shop – over 500 of you!
  • Mr. Pete Witte ’86 for hosting the Price Hill Christmas gathering to raise over $1000 and toy donations
  • Mrs. Michelle Guenther of Queen City Book Bank for coordinating the donation of 1000 new books
  • Mrs. Megan Franklin and Bright Path employees who donated three boxes of toys
  • Mr. and Mrs. Zureick who donated many basketballs, soccer balls, footballs, and baseballs
  • The Mack Studs (Ron Coffaro, Tom Mendel, and Paul Leibel) a group of 1972 Elder grads who handmade the wooden toy truck toys
  • Mrs. Bev Flaherty for coordinating all the student volunteers and shopping for toys
  • The more than 80 Elder student volunteers, four Seton student volunteers, and Isa and Jacob Flaherty who helped at the Toy Shop
  • Mrs. Tara Tuttle, Mr. Jeff Tuttle, Mr. Joe Pieper, Mr. Brian Flaherty, Mr. Al Kovacic, Mr.Tom Reiring, Mr. Mark Dirksing, and Mr. Adam Duwel for their help at the Toy Shop
  • Mr. Tom Roberts and Mrs. Dayna Patrick of St. Vincent de Paul for working with us this year
  • The wonderful Elder moms who helped with gift wrapping and other tasks
  • Mr. Gary Rogers for designing our Toy Shop (and Elder Serves) logo
  • ESLB leaders: Will James ‘25, Cole Clyde ‘27, Owen Schmidt ‘27, Johnie Holmes ‘28, and Caleb Broxterman ’26 for their leadership

CLICK HERE for the photos from the 2024 Toy Drive and the Toy Shop.

Elder High School is excited to be hosting its annual Toy Drive and Toy Shop to serve needy families in Price Hill.  Many volunteers are needed to make this event a success – from bringing in toys to helping the week of the event and during the event itself!

HISTORY
The Elder Toy Shop was started in the 1980’s by Mrs. Liz Witte, an Elder mom.  Mrs. Witte believed that all kids should have some toys to open on Christmas day and she decided to do something about it.   For many years while her sons were at Elder, Mrs. Witte would coordinate the collection of food and toys to be distributed to needy families in Over-The-Rhine.  As the years went and her sons graduated, the reins were passed to her son Pete Witte who still supports the event to this day.  As the demographics of our city changed, the Toy Shop changed to serve primarily our Price Hill neighbors in need.  We are pleased to be able to honor Mrs. Witte’s legacy as we prepare for Toy Shop this year.  CLICK HERE for a Price Hill Press article from 2011.

TOY SHOP 2024
We are excited to partner with St. Vincent de Paul and be a part of their Christmas Together programs.   SVDP has a long history of serving neighbors in need in Cincinnati (and around the world), and they have hosted successful Toy Shops for many years, helping neighbors in need who request assistance during the Holiday season.  Even though we are working with SVDP this year, the neighbors who will be shopping at Elder’s Toy Shop reside in the Price Hill area – so we are truly helping our neighbors in need again this year.

NOTE: All families invited to our shop have been notified by St. Vincent de Paul.  Unfortunately we are NOT able to accept walkups.  Thank you. 

Toys will be collected on Wednesday, December 4 during our Theme Day (Ugly Christmas Sweater).  We are collecting UNWRAPPED toys. Each HR is asked to purchase toys for a given age range and gender.  Here are the assignments:

NEED GIFT SUGGESTIONS?
CLICK HERE for a list of gifts suggested by St. Vincent de Paul.

AMAZON WISH LIST
CLICK HERE for the Wish List that Elder’s very own Bev Flaherty has personally curated.  You can order from this list at anytime!  NOTE: If you do purchase a toy (or toys) from Amazon and want your son to receive credit for it, please email Todd Forman (formantt@elderhs.net) to let him know your son’s name, grade, and what you purchased.  Thank you!

ADDITIONAL TOYS
If your family, business or other organization would like collect and donate toys to our Toy Shop, please let us know!  Simply reach out to Todd Forman (formantt@elderhs.net)  He would be happy to pick up the toys from you. 

The Toy Shop will require a lot of volunteers to make this happen. Some volunteers will be needed to help set up on Friday, December 13th (2:45 PM – 4:30 PM), while others are needed for the actual Toy Shop on Saturday, December 14th (8 AM – 1 PM).  

STUDENT VOLUNTEERS
If you are interested in helping at this year’s Toy Shop in some capacity, connect with Mrs. Flaherty (flahertybl@elderhs.net).   She is coordinating student volunteers.  Note: Space is very limited.

ADULT VOLUNTEERS
We need 4 – 5 adults to help with set up on Friday, and 12 – 15 adult volunteers to help during the Toy Shop.  Jobs will include working at registration, helping with gift wrapping, and helping our neighbors transport the gifts to their cars.  If you would like to help, CLICK HERE.

THANK YOU!

Todd Forman
Community Service Coordinator
formantt@elderhs.net