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Toys for Tots

One determined Southbanker plus plenty of support equals a successful charity drive.

The Toys for Tots programme, led by Grade 12's Glen Tokola on behalf of the Marines of the American Embassy, resulted in over 250 toys (and five trunks filled with lego, stuffed animals, toy cars and various other donations) being donated to the St. Vincent's Family Center just in time for Christmas. St. Vincent's provides a location for families in distress.

Glen was also able to use this for his Eagle Scout Service project (the rank of Eagle Scout is the highest achievement in the Boy Scouts of America). Glen has been in Troop 401 since his arrival in London four years ago and to advance in the ranks, he had to complete a number of Badges and perform a number of service hours. He also had to plan and lead a service project, which not only provided other scouts the opportunity to work on service hours, but was also beneficial to the community in which the troop is based.

Glen's first port of call for gaining Southbank's help was the library. "I went to the librarians first, and no one should ever underestimate their kindness whether they are volunteering to help with a social project or finding a book!" he said. "Both Mr Herne and Mrs Joshi went above and beyond what I could ever have expected them to do by providing me with labelled donation boxes and a location for the toys to be donated. Mr Sterling and Ms Saleh helped me a lot with the transportation of the toys and Ms Clancy provided me with six full garbage bags of toys that I could go through and donate to the cause. I also put up many posters around the school, but even before then, I was already receiving a steady flow of donations from Southbank. The response from the school was incredible!"

Ms Saleh added: "Southbank was the only site outside of the American Embassy collecting toys for this drive. In The States, the marines' toys for tots drive is massive. This was a really amazing example of the generosity of Southbank that our school was the only site in London collecting and we met the drive goal for the charity."

Thanks to everyone's efforts, more than 120 children from 70 families were able to enjoy their Christmas as we do and the organisation has kept the trunks for the same children to play with whenever they visit the centre in future.

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