AIG and ViacomCBS Continue to Enrich Lives from Across the Country
As we reflect on the holiday season, we are so grateful for the honor to work together again with our friends at AIG and ViacomCBS. Though we’re still spending a good portion of our time together virtually, we are overjoyed that our supporters continue to recognize the value that a toy drive program brings to employees in terms of social responsibility, sustainability, and holiday giving.
This year AIG expanded its support for our organization. Together we hosted a mail-in toy drive enabling employees anywhere in the country to give their children’s toys a second chance. AIG generously underwrote the shipping costs and ran multiple communication campaigns encouraging employees to participate. Hundreds of toys were sent to Second Chance Toys headquarters in New Jersey.
SCT stored the toys and since the turnout was so amazing, we were able to match and satisfy the need of toys for multiple organizations: the Oasis Christian Center in Rahway, NJ as well as the Creating Unity in the Community, a program serving low-income communities of Parkchester in the Bronx. A few reactive toys that light up, make noise, or move were culled and donated to Makers Making Change, NYC Chapter, for their adaptive toy hack-a-thon, a program serving kids with disabilities and varying types of motor skills throughout the city. MMC volunteers opened up the toys and added longer wires and buttons to the mechanisms. This program allows more kids to enjoy toys that they wouldn’t have been able to use otherwise. AIG provided all the toys that were donated for the first hack-a-thon, which took place in December.
As well as the astounding volume of beautiful toys, AIG is supporting Second Chance Toys with a grant to help us continue to be able to provide such programs. We are so thankful for our AIG team and the partnership that we have in the fights against plastic waste and poverty!
ViacomCBS is one of our longest running teammates. Over the years this group has prevented literal tons of plastic toys from seeing the eternal landfill and instead guided them into the creative hands of deserving kids.
As part of this year’s Season of Giving Program Lineup, VCBS employees and families were invited to join the SCT team for a virtual discussion about our mission, the importance of reuse and recycling, and to learn how to prepare to donate toys themselves. VCBS generously covered the cost of shipping and SCT created a do-it-yourself (DIY) donation instruction sheet to be distributed electronically to even more participants across the country. The toys were sent to our nation’s capital for the Washington D.C. National Guard Family Program, which serves thousands of military families in the area. Adam Robinson, Vice President of Corporate Social Responsibility at VCBS, and our friend and partner in planning reflects: "Our employees were so happy to have an experience that taught their kids and families the importance of reuse and giving in a fun and personal way.
In addition to the toys donated, devotion to the collection, and enthusiastic participants who spread the word, ViacomCBS is awarding Second Chance Toys with a generous grant in support of our programming. We are so grateful to have ViacomCBS on our team and as always we are looking forward to our next collection together!
Second Chance Toys is so honored to have these dedicated change-makers on our team! Thank you to the AIG and ViacomCBS communities for your devotion to the mission to reduce plastic waste while helping children in need! We couldn’t do it without you!
