Chicago Area Students Helping Give Christmas Gifts To Needy Children
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Several high school athletes from around the Chicago area were helping Chance The Rapper make the holidays a little brighter on Monday, by packing thousands of donated toys for children in need.
Over the past 30 days, about 10,000 toys were donated to the Making A Difference On And Off The Field campaign presented by Buddy's Helpers and the PepsiCo Showdown.
The student-athletes who collected them also created handmade cards, and helped pack some of the gifts into backpacks. In all, 23 yards of pallets will be loaded onto trucks in River Grove early Monday morning.
Once the toys are loaded onto two semi-trailer trucks, they will be delivered to the Field Museum of Natural History, where Chance The Rapper will hand out the toys to needy families at a giveaway Wednesday night at his SocialWorks charity's "A Night At The Museum" event.
"It was a great experience getting everyone involved in collecting all these toys, and it's just a small little gesture that can make a huge difference in a child's Christmas," Whitney Young High School soccer player Madison Ekern said.
Fellow Whitney Young soccer player Evan Wimberly said he's happy to make a difference in other kids' lives.
"Some of these kids don't normally have gifts on Christmas when they wake up in the morning, and these backpacks, and gifts, and toys are a way to help them, so that when they wake up, they'll be really excited to receive something they don't normally receive," he said.
Guests at Chance's event at Field Museum have been encouraged to bring coats, hats, gloves, scarves, socks, and canned goods to distribute to the needy in January.
