Valley Credit Union in Billings will host its fourth annual Toys for Tots donation event.
The event will take place Nov. 28 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the King Avenue West location. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event will be held outside on the parking lot.
Joe Olivo, Valley's vice president of member experience, said Monday afternoon that in previous years the event brought in $2,000 to $3,000 in toy donations. This year they have already received $1,800 worth of toys weeks before the event has started.
Olivo says before the annual event was started four years ago, it was just a drop-off location for Toys for Tots.
“We decided, let's take it a step further and do an actual toy drive and see how we do,” said Olivo.
He said they first started by putting together an event called “Pack the Valley Van,” where they fill their company van with toy donations.
“We ended up filling it over two and three times over, had to make multiple trips and it was so successful that we felt like… this is something that we can do every year,” said Olivo.
After that, they decided to turn the event into the annual toy drive that it is today.
“It’s just such a great event and charity to be involved with. Everyone remembers waking up and having a toy on Christmas morning and opening your presents. Any event that you can do where you can give that joy to a kid or someone that is less fortunate and needs it, is something that Valley wants to be a part of,” said Olivo.
