South Side Christmas toy drive seeks donations to serve 10,000 kids: ‘We need a miracle on 95th Street’

Six years ago, Christina Williams had no idea how she would be able to get her four young kids Christmas gifts.

The five of them were homeless and living in her car in Joliet. So when she heard about a toy drive happening at a Roseland church, she rushed over. But the church had given away all the gifts by the time the family got there.

Luckily, the pastor running the drive at Another Chance Church had a gift card for her. And when she took the card to Walmart to get her children gifts, she was shocked to learn the card’s value was $400.

“I had no idea it was $400. I cried right there at the register,” Williams said. “So I got the kids more toys, I got us food. ... At that time my kids were only eating once a day.”

It’s families like Williams’ who encourage Kenyatta Smith, the pastor who gave her the card, to carry on holding the annual toy drive, now in its 12th year.

Kaitlin Washburn/Sun-Times

“There’s a lot of people that are financially challenged around this time, and the narrative is the same. It’s either [paying for] a toy or a bill and it’s more likely to be a bill,” Smith said. “When we give a toy, it’s not us just giving a toy, but they receive hope.”

But the toy drive, called Operation Cover Chicago, is short the funds needed to buy enough gifts for the roughly 10,000 kids who will show up with their families Wednesday.

“We need a miracle on 95th Street,” said Smith, whose church is at 95th Street and Harvard Avenue. “We believe that somebody will hear our story and help bail us out because thousands of children depend on it.”

Operation Cover Chicago has about 3,000 toys, far less than the 20,000 it needs, Smith said. He said the church needs $30,000 to buy the remaining toys. All of the funds are used to purchase the toys for families who come from across the Chicago area and outside the city.

“Truthfully, this would be a great toy drive for anybody with this amount of toys,” Smith said. “But unfortunately, with all the people that we service around the city and around the state it’s just not enough.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Toys are more expensive this year because of inflation, Smith said. For example, the bikes the church gives away cost $38 last year, and this year they’re $78.

“We may end up running out, and that’s scary that a kid might not get a gift on Christmas,” Smith said.

This isn’t the first year Operation Cover Chicago hasn’t had enough gifts before the drive. Last year, Smith put out a similar call to meet his goal. The church was able to successfully raise $70,000 to give away 17,000 toys, the highest amount ever raised.

A donation of $35 will cover a toy for one child; $175 covers a family of five; and $300 covers a family of 10.

Donations can be made on the toy drive’s gofundme page. Checks can be made payable to Another Chance Church, or donors can also text OCC2022 to 44321.

Williams, who is now a congregant and singer at Another Chance Church, said the toy drive benefits kids and their parents. She now serves as a volunteer giving out toys during the drive.

“It sucks so bad as a mom when you can’t get your kids gifts for Christmas,” Williams said. “With this toy drive, the church instills hope, not only in the kids, but for the parents, too.”