Men’s Club Donates to Toy Drive

By Jonathan Weaver

A local effort to collect toys for children spending their holidays in the hospital received a four-digit donation at Light-Up Kittanning.

The Kittanning Men’s Club donated $1,000 toward buying toys to the Lillie Kay Foundation – which is now based in Tennessee, but a month long toy drive is being held at DiMond Chiropractic in McGrann for the foundation.

The Kittanning Men’s Club president Mike Atwood has been part of the South Jefferson Street organization for more than 40 years

“We’re trying to give back, and when I found about what (the Lillie Kay Foundation) was all about, it was a wonderful organization,” Atwood said.

“We’re just a Men’s Club – what do we know about toys?,” Atwood said. “So, we figured if we can donate $1,000 and let them pick out the toys, that would be perfect.

Atwood – also a father of a daughter, Kristen – said money was raised through the club’s Small Games of Chance license. The club donates about 60 percent of the profits to non-profit groups and charitable organizations.

Ashley DiMond coordinates the local effort with her husband, Justin. Roughly 400 toys were donated last year to Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh during the toy drive.

“This was absolutely amazing – this is going to put us up to almost 1,000 toys I would assume,” DiMond said. “(Donations from clubs or local businesses) is what I was really hoping for. This is amazing to the foundation.”

Ashley’s mother, Shari Stull, also agreed to collect toys at her business, “The Hair Docktor” in South Buffalo Township, for the second year in a row and already has about a boxful of toys as well.

The foundation formed December 14, 2010 on behalf of Lillie Kay Kimsey – who died only five days after she was born a year earlier to parents originally of the Freeport area.

The evening commemorating Lilly Kay’s first birthday, her parents asked family and friends to bring gifts for Lilly Kay to donate to patients at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Tennessee.

In 2012, the drive collected more than 1,000 toys for Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital.

“No better place to present this – Santa Claus was here,” Atwood concluded.