Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Bo Evans Realty Toy Drive is back and celebrating a decade of giving and spreading joy.
“We would love for anybody that can bring a new unwrapped toy, I’d like to make this the biggest year ever,” Evans said.
Any new and unwrapped toy, for any gender or age, will be accepted at 1137 E. Main St. in Prattville. Donations will be accepted for over a month, where the last day to donate will be Thursday, December 12th. The toys will be delivered on Friday, Dec. 13th, where Evans confirmed that is also his birthday.
Bo Evans Realty, owned by Bo and Punkin Evans, has been in business in Prattville since 1992, and this is their 10th year hosting the toy drive. The toys go directly from Bo Evans Realty’s office straight to the Children’s Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham, which is classified as one of the best Children’s Hospitals in the country.
“We’ve had tremendous success, and we hope to have much, much more. We donate them anonymously and tell the hospital that they’re from the people of Prattville,” Evans said.
Throughout the Children’s Hospital during the holidays Santa typically visits twice a day and every single child in the building gets a toy, Evans stated. Whether it be a patient, the patient’s brother or sister or a visiting child.
Evans also confirmed that the Children’s Hospital gets money donations that go towards supplying toys for children during the holiday season. However, Evan’s explained that when a cash donation is made, that takes away a staff member from the hospital in order to go and get the toys. Which is why Evans stated he prefers to deliver them himself to ensure they not only get to where they need to go, but to also keep the staff within the hospital.
“People also need to remember that there are children of all ages from babies to 18 -year-olds at the Children’s Hospital. Almost everything is appropriate because the kids range in age. There are older kids and there’s younger kids. We get a lot of puzzles and puzzle books which can be used throughout the year,” Evans said.
Last year, Evans confirmed that they had hundreds of toys, where he and his team carefully put the toys in large garbage bags for transport, and Evans stated that the toys filled the bed and the cab of his truck.
When asked about his favorite memory delivering toys Evans recalls the second or third year of the drive.
“At that point Santa Claus was in their lobby and Santa’s Workshop had just run out of toys. They literally just gave away the last toy,” Evans said.
Evans stated they were scrambling to figure out what to do next as Santa still had more kids to see. That’s the moment he and his team pulled up with his full truck of toys.
“They were really grateful and pushed for me to tell them who I was. But I never cared about it, I just wanted to make sure that they got to where they were going, because they’re from the citizens of Prattville. But that really made me want to continue to do this,” Evans said.
Now, a decade later, the Bo Evans Toy Drive grows every year, with the 10-year looking to be the biggest. Evans confirmed that they do accept cash donations, and Evans stated he or his team would use the money to purchase toys to be donated.
Toys will be accepted through December 12th, at 1137 E. Main St. in Prattville.
