From the Valley News Dispatch Newspaper:
Highlands high schoolers, Mike Killian, Lauren Gezo, Ashley Gulllory, Amber Reigard, and the District 3 Representative Samantha Ohl are conducting toy drives to help brighten the holidays for children in need.
Students are spearheading two toy collections — one for radio station 96.1 KISS, "Stuff a Bus," which benefits Toys for Tots, and another for Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.
Making its debut at Highlands this year, "Stuff a Bus" is a week-long toy drive in Monroeville.
The high school's DECA club, a business and entrepreneurship group, is leading the project and has so far collected nearly 200 toys.
Sammy Ohl, a Highlands junior and DECA member, said she's attended the radio show's "Stuff a Bus" event every year and wanted to bring the charity to Highlands.
"I thought this would be fun because toys relate to kids, obviously of any age," she said, especially if high schoolers have younger siblings.
Ohl, 16, said W.L. Roenigk Inc. bus company will donate a bus. Students will decorate it, fill it with toys and then drop off the toys on Thursday.
Students will collect toys and money to purchase toys from the public from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday and from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday in the high school lobby.
Marketing teacher and DECA adviser Zach Wells said students made fliers about the event to post in local businesses and banks, drawing attention to the program.
"The kids' works that they're doing are being displayed throughout the community," he said. "Their parents and families can see what they're doing."
Highlands freshman Amber Reigard also is helping with the DECA collection in addition to collecting toys for Children's Hospital in an event she began last year.
So far, she has collected about 200 toys. Reigard, 14, hopes to beat her efforts last year by collecting more than 250 toys. Businesses have donated gift cards and money, helping her buy toys to donate.
"Last year, I got a dozen soccer balls from Highland Tire," she said, "and this year I got two-and-a-half dozen."
Reigard remembers dropping toys off in Children's Hospital last year and seeing the donations bring smiles to the faces of children in wheelchairs.
"If this can make a difference ... why not do it again," she said. "A lot of families are struggling with their kids in the hospital to pay bills."
Reigard and her family will deliver the toys Dec. 15.
Anyone who wants to donate can drop off toys in the high school office. Donors should specify whether they're for the hospital or for "Stuff a Bus."
Oregon Club members can drop off toys for Children's Hospital at the club in Brackenridge, too, Reigard said.
Both charities are seeking new, unwrapped toys.
