Dropping off toys for the ones in need is a sign of maturity by realizing that giving is better than receiving. 

The toy drive at Riordan is important because it centers around the needs of those in the community. CORE Service Team co-moderator Joshua Keeney said that students should want to participate in the toy to brighten up and bring more excitement to Christmas morning for those who may not have the means to purchase presents. 

Keeney has been serving the toy drive for about five years now, and his most memorable experience is every year bringing multiple bags filled with toys to the firehouse on Ocean Avenue; the firefighters always show much appreciation and amazement at the generosity of the students. Their reaction serves as an example of the kindness and outward thinking taught and encouraged at Riordan. 

The toy drive seems to be less successful than the food drive because people figure that feeding the unfed is more important than giving out toys to kids that don’t have a chance to get their hands on any. 

Logan Paulsen ’22 is one of the leaders of the Toy Drive. He expressed the importance of helping those affected by COVID-19 and the fires. “I think that if we just consider how we have been affected by COVID and the fires, we can realize the hardships that people less well off have experienced, and that we are able to help, so we should do whatever we can.” 

Volunteers participate in charities such as these drives at Riordan because there are always people who need more help than they do, so they should help in any way we can.

Paulsen defines the CORE team to be  a branch of Campus Ministry that runs the different drives throughout the school year, such as the Billy Choy AIDS Drive and the current drive, the Toy Drive and its goal is to raise awareness of the struggles that people in the community experience, and to provide for those who are in need.

The drive began Nov. 29, and it ends on Dec. 17. Acceptable donations are any unopened new toy, for any age, is acceptable.