Southern Illinois Healthcare came through in a big way this year for the Marine Corps Reserves longstanding Toys for Tots campaign.
Fundraising efforts led by nurses in the 4th floor surgical unit at Memorial Hospital of Carbondale and the hospital's auxiliary brought in $20,000 for Toys for Tots. This is the hospital's largest collective donation to date, breaking last year's record of just over $12,000.
One of the nurses that led the fundraiser, Anne Jiter, said the effort of hosting a hospital-wide basket raffle exceeded expectations.
"So, we started off with a goal of having 25 baskets. Last year, we had a total of 23. So, our goal of 25 quickly turned into 39 baskets because we opened it up hospital-wide for donations. We had whole units give us baskets. We had individuals do baskets. Anything from a fire pit to a local boutique donated a basket. So, 39 baskets in total. Last year, we sold about 14,000 tickets to make the money we made. This year, we sold over 23,000 tickets for a profit of $16,000."
The hospital Auxiliary donated $4,000 to reach the $20,000 mark. Nearly $800 of that total came from a recycling effort led by SIH Facilities and Maintenance.
Harry Fanning is with the Shawnee Detachment of the Marine Corps Reserves, which operates Toys for Tots in Jackson, Williamson, Franklin, Union and Saline counties in southern Illinois. He said all the money raised goes to buy gifts for children in the area.
"There isn't any money spent on any individuals. The entire money, whether it's toys or cash that's collected, all goes to buying toys for the children. We provide toys for five counties. I want to say somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 kids get toys for Christmas."
Fanning said toys will be distributed this Saturday to over 500 families just in the City of Carbondale.
He said even though the Toys for Tots campaign officially kicks off in early November, the work is done year round and all the workers are volunteers.
