Spirits spreading and anticipation rising, Toys 4 Tots is a major event during the holiday season.

“It’s very self-fulfilling because you feel so great about yourself that you help someone get something that they otherwise wouldn’t have,” senior head of Toys 4 Tots Simran Singh said. 

One way Eisenhower contributes in the holiday season is by participating in Toys 4 Tots. The contribution raises money throughout the school and the money raised goes towards buying toys for the kids in need during the holiday season. 

“I feel like it’s super rewarding getting to see big numbers like in the past, we’ve raised over $10,000. It’s gone up to like 11 or 12,000,” senior head of Toys 4 Tots Amela Halkic said. 

The main event, the telethon, raises the most money for the fundraiser. The class that raises the most money during their hour wins prizes that benefit the whole class. 

 “I feel like we’re so used to getting so many gifts and stuff like that,” Halkic said. “And it’s good to know that there are people out there who are less fortunate, so it’s a good cause to raise money for them.”

Another way the student council is raising money is by having student council members decorate mason jars and collect money in the jars. Members have to walk around the hallways with their jars and try to collect money from fellow students. They offer candy or be super enthusiastic toward the students to try and raise the most money in their jars.

“I think that it’s a sense of community for all our kids, for the most part our community is pretty fortunate, as far as having Santa visit them every single year,” student council advisor Amber Bronson said. “So I think it’s something that our kids really understand, you know, how important and what that feeling is to be able to, you know, get gifts at Christmas.”

Not only does Toys 4 Tots make a festive, fun environment for the students, but it is for a selfless cause. With the excitement of the games, prizes and telethon, students get to relax and help out the less fortunate.

“There’s going to be some kid that’s going to wake up and think that this was pretty awesome and that there’s a great chance that in some of these families they wouldn’t have ended up with those items at all under the tree so I think that that’s pretty great,” Bronson said. “I think you have to go back and remember what it felt like to be six. Waking up on Christmas morning and seeing all those presents there is very special.”