When is Toy Drive?
The 25th Annual 98.5 KLUC Chet Buchanan Show Toy Drive presented by Venetian Resort Las Vegas is from November 30, 2023 at 6am-December 11 at 10am.
What hours is Toy Drive open? When can I donate?
Donations will begin, Thursday, November 30th, 2022 at 6:00 am through Monday, December 11th, 2022 at 10:00 am. Daily donation times are, Monday - Thursday from 6a-8p, Friday from 6a-10p and Saturday-Sunday from 8a-10p. Please park and walk in your toys to the Help of Southern Nevada Tent to drop off your toys.
Where is Toy Drive located? Are there other places I can take my donations?
Toy Drive will once again be at NV Energy—6226 West Sahara (just West of Jones) in Las Vegas. You’ll see Chet on the “Big Thirty Foot Scaffold.” That is the ONLY OFFICIAL TOY DRIVE DONATION LOCATION. However, there are many businesses, schools, and civic organizations that hold their own collections to bring them to Toy Drive. We are unable to officially sanction any of these, as evaluating and monitoring them all would be nearly impossible! Just make sure that if you’re not bringing your donation directly to
us, that you are leaving it with someone you know and trust. Chet does love seeing everyone though…and considers it his number one job to make sure every single person gets a “THANK YOU!” and a “MERRY CHRISTMAS!” Come down to Toy Drive and say hello!
What kind of donations do you accept?
We happily accept new, unwrapped toys…new bicycles…and cash and gift cards!
Where do those donations go?
Our charity partner, and truly the ones who do the heavy lifting, is HELP of Southern Nevada. They are like family to us and take care of the coordination and distribution of the donations. In addition to serving thousands of their own clients, HELP coordinates toy and bike distribution to numerous charities
throughout Southern Nevada. Last year, over 100 charities, in addition to HELP of Southern Nevada, saw their clients benefit from Toy Drive.
NOTE FROM CHET: “Truly, if you get the opportunity and have it in your heart…volunteer to help at Toy Drive distribution. HELP sets up a “store” where clients get vouchers to spend like cash to pick out gifts for their children. You’ll see first-hand how Toy Drive impacts, affects, and changes lives for parents every bit as much as kids, if not more. It might change your world a bit too. As we always say…you never know who you are helping. It’s a hand UP, not a hand OUT. I stopped trying to count how many people have come back to donate to Toy Drive with tears in their eyes…because not long before we helped them.”
I might need help this year. How do I sign up to receive toys?
GO RIGHT NOW TO HELPSONV.ORG and click on “SERVICES” and then “HOLIDAY PROGRAMS.” You will need to apply in person at HELP of Southern Nevada. There are 8 different days to apply (November 4, 5, 11, 12 and December 2, 3, 9, 10) GO TO HELPSONV.ORG RIGHT NOW. You will need a number of documents with you when you apply. Without them…all of them…you will not be able to apply. PLEASE GO TO HELPSONV.ORG RIGHT NOW.
My organization would like to receive toys, or volunteer. How do we do that?
In order to receive toys, or to volunteer, your organization must meet certain criteria. Please email Volunteer@helpsonv.org for details. Agency grants for toys opens Oct. 12, 2023 and go through Nov. 21, 2023.
****The age guidelines for volunteers and the maximum number of members of Toy Drive volunteer groups have changed for 2023.****
Does Chet REALLY stay up there?
FROM CHET: “Outside of what we call “The Big Mistake” when I went to Portland and missed the 2002 and 2003 Toy Drives, I have stayed on the scaffold all day, every day and never come down. The first day of this year’s Toy Drive will be my 193rd day of living on a scaffold. That’s over 6 months of my life! Since we have moved to NV Energy and they take me on and off the scaffold in the bucket, I’ve only touched the stairs AT ALL three separate times. Once was before Toy Drive one year when I carried some stuff up. The second was when I forgot something up top after Toy Drive was over, and no one else was up there. I felt weird about it both times, and vowed to never do it again, EVER. The third was four or five years ago. A chef friend of mine was recovering from a recent auto accident, and insisted on continuing his tradition of bringing me dinner on the scaffold from his restaurant. As I was waiting at the top, and he reached the last set of stairs with both hands full with dinner, he had a bout of vertigo and was struggling to keep his balance. I jumped down 4 stairs to grab his arm and keep him from falling. I was
immediately mortified. I saved my friend, but I can never again say, “I’ve NEVER touched the stairs (during Toy Drive.)” I CAN say, “I’ve only touched them once…and I’ve never gone down.” Not when my dog died on Day 4 in 2014, not when my Dad was rushed to the hospital six weeks before he died last year, not even through some of the worst wind, rain, snow, having to sleep in the Port-A-Potty…whatever. I think part of why this thing works is we trust each other. You know I’m not leaving the scaffold no matter what…I know you’ll make sure we can meet our goal of ONE MORE TOY, ONE
MORE BIKE, ONE MORE DOLLAR. I have a tent, a port-a-potty, a wife who loves me and worries WAY too much, an incredible team around me, and THE GREATEST CITY IN THE WORLD behind me. I’m good.”