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An Athens teen is seeking donations for Gwen’s Magical Toy Drive on Saturday
By: Theo Peck-Suzuki | Report for America
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB/Report for America) — An Athens teen is collecting toys for kids for the holiday season.
Gwen Mouat was in Macy’s with her aunt four years ago when she saw a toy donation box.
She asked her aunt what it was for.
“She said it’s to donate toys to kids who don’t have them, and I remember being like, ‘What?’” Gwen recalled.
Gwen decided she wanted to help, so she started a yearly toy drive in her hometown of New Albany. In 2022, she collected over 500 toys for Toys for Tots in collaboration with the New Albany Police Department, according to her mother Jenny Mouat.
Gwen and her mother moved to Athens this year, where they’re keeping the tradition going. They are collecting unwrapped toy donations at the The Market State on East State Street from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.
All the toys they collect will go to Athens County Children Services’ Santa Tree program.
The A Special Wish Foundation of central Ohio is also sponsoring a “toy shopping spree” in which Gwen will go to Walmart and Dunham’s to buy toys for Athens and Meigs County Children Services.