Spreading Christmas joy

EAST Coast Radio’s Toy Story with Game spread a little Christmas joy in the lives of every child in government hospitals across KwaZulu-Natal as ECR presenters paid the children a visit.

Last week, the team wrapped up the last leg of the hospital visits, dropping in on five health facilities. East Coast Radio presenters Jane Linley-Thomas, Damon Beard and Rory Petzer witnessed first-hand the smiles that the new toys brought to little faces in paediatric wards at St Aidans Hospital, King George V Hospital, Albert Luthuli Hospital, Wentworth Hospital and Clairwood Hospital. For many of these little ones, the toys they receive while in hospital are the first new toys that belong entirely to themselves.

The East Coast Radio’s Toy Story with Game team has already delivered new toys to the KZN Midlands, the South Coast and the North Coast.

In addition to collecting thousands of new toys donated by individuals and corporates across KZN, the initiative has also raised more than R1.6 million, every cent of which is used to buy food parcels for child-headed households in KZN. There are thousands of little ones in KZN who rely solely on school-sponsored meals. The food parcels contain items that can feed a family of four to six for around five weeks, which is crucial for the long end-of-school holidays that span December and January. The Department of Health’s Air Mercy Service helps take toys and food parcels to outlying areas of KZN that the Toy Story teams can’t get to by road.