While it may seem like the thousands of toys collected at Another Chance Church is significant, organizers of the annual holiday toy drive say the numbers paint a much different picture.
“We probably have about 3,000 toys, and right now we would generally have 20,000-plus," said Pastor Kenyatta Smith.
Smith has been doing toy drives for the past 12 years.
It started small, but in 2020, during the pandemic, the event grew exponentially. People started coming from all over the Chicago area and there were long lines of people waiting to get a toy for Christmas.
“When you think about it, in a pandemic there were resources that were readily available,” Smith said. “Now we are out of the pandemic and inflation is still going up, and there are no resources coming back to our community.”
Not only are toy donations down, so are cash donations.
Smith said they’ve collected just over $3,400, compared to $46,000 this time last year.
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“Our donors are now split in half," he said. "Where we used to get a lot of donations from corporations and we’ve had half the donors commit to giving. Their contributions have not been what they’ve given in the past."
"It kind of makes me feel like people don’t care about each other anymore. We used to care," said volunteer and church member Keith Whitfield. “It’s bad, but I have faith that things are going to get better. And right now, it’s a miracle on 95th Street if we can pull it off.”
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Operation Cover Chicago happens on Dec. 20 at Another Chance Church, located at 9550 S. Harvard Ave. in Chicago. You can reach them at (773) 253-7474 or info@anotherchancech.com.
They have also started a GoFundMe. For more information, you can check their Facebook page.
