In December 2022, Lampeter-Strasburg School District broke its record for the number of donations collected during its annual Toys for Tots toy drive. This was the 16th year that the school district participated in the national charity program, and 1,837 toys in total were collected from various local schools.

Although the toys are not collected until December, the Lampeter-Strasburg administration begins preparing for the drive months in advance. Each school in the district participates, and classes are incentivized to collect the highest number of donations with a prize such as a doughnut party. The delicious treats do motivate students to participate, but Lampeter-Strasburg program specialists Kara Grove and Jackie Potter said that for many, assisting with the drive is its own reward.

Dressed as elves and snowmen, Grove and Potter made videos to promote the drive, and the collection boxes were placed in prominent locations inside the schools so that students could watch the pile grow larger as weeks passed. Students were also able to track the number of toys collected through an interactive meter that Grove and Potter introduced, and the meter was tied into mathematics and graphing lessons. "It became a daily check-in with the toy meter," said Potter. "It became a regular topic of discussion and it brought everyone together."

As the collection date drew closer, schools incorporated the collection progress in daily announcements. Students began to work together with their families, shopping for toys with their parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents and discussing in their own homes how to best support the drive and give back to those in need over Christmastime. Students who were unable to donate assisted in other ways, such as collecting, counting and organizing the donations.

Toys for Tots will often recognize a participant in the drive who is exceedingly passionate about the project. This year, the Marine Corps presented Lampeter-Strasburg High School sophomore Liliana Bacon with a certificate of recognition for collecting over 270 donations on her own.

"We were especially excited this year because it was the Marines' 75th year running (Toys for Tots)," said Potter. "I was really blown away and surprised; it was a coming together of the community."

On collection day, students from the high school's Pioneer Interact Club and representatives of the Marine Corps bagged the donations. The volunteers drove a school bus to each school to pick up the piles of toys and counted the total number of gifts. Once each pile was collected and counted, the gifts were loaded onto the Marine Corps' trailer and delivered to the Toys for Tots distribution center. "We collected so many toys that by the time we visited the last school, we couldn't even sit comfortably in the bus because of how crammed it was," said Grove. "It was really special to see how many people gave, even during hard times."

The school district plans to hold the toy drive again next year and hopes to collect just as many, if not more, donations. Information on how to participate will be posted at http://www.l-spioneers.org.