State police collect toys for sick children
Commander said he has never seen this many toys
The Maryland State Police La Plata Barrack collected toys for its KinderTime Toy Drive this December and received more than it ever has before.
Inside the conference room of the La Plata Barrack were layers of toys: dolls, stuffed animals, games and even a few bicycles.
These toys for the KinderTime toy drive will be going to children with illnesses, as well as children in need in Maryland, specifically the Baltimore area. Institutes like the Kennedy Krieger Institute, the Ronald McDonald House, the Bea Gaddy Family Center and The Agape Christian Center will be receiving toys from barracks around the state.
“We did the easy stuff, putting the signs out, putting it out there and taking the toys up [to Baltimore], but the community were the people who did this for us,” said Lauren Galgan, police communication supervisor for the La Plata Barrack.
Galgan said that the barrack will normally receive a box or two of donations from the toy drive.
Lt. Andrew Rossignol, commander of the La Plata Barrack, said that he was “running into people who were [at the barrack] two or three times” donating toys. The vast majority were citizens who donated toys to the toy drive.
“They were buying brand new toys and bring them straight from the store to [the barrack],” Rossignol said.
Galgan said that they started off with one box in their lobby, since they normally receive about a box full of toys; however, the box quickly filled, so they had to keep adding donation boxes then eventually had to start relocating the toys.
“We had six boxes and we would have to empty them about every other day into the conference room. It just became over-pouring amounts of everything,” Galgan said.
“It services our children right here, [in the county],” she said.
Galgan said that her daughter was just at Johns Hopkins for a minor procedure and they gave her “so much stuff and obviously this is were it comes from, people who are willing to donate like this.”
Rossignol said that they had the State Highway Patrol put up signs on U.S. 301 advertising the toy drive, as well as posting information on its Facebook page.
Rossignol said he thinks the extra advertising they did was the reason they received an outpouring of toys this year.
“I thought we were late in the game. To be honest, we never thought we would have [this many toys donated],” Galgan said.
She said she hopes that next year, they receive the same or even larger amount of toys donated to the barrack.
“I hope the community can see what this has done [for children],” Galgan said.
The La Plata Barrack took the toys to the Maryland State Police headquarters Dec. 20. Rossignol will be a part of handing the toys out to the children in Baltimore on Dec. 21.
“We did not expect the type of response that we got with the request for toys,” Rossignol said. “It’s been overwhelming and humbling at the same time, we are nothing but appreciative of the community.”
Det. Sgt. James Barth said he has never seen this many toys donated to the toy drive.
“It’s overwhelming, I’ve never seen this many toys being delivered to one facility at one time. Normally we usually get a quarter of this; the citizens of Charles County went above and beyond for kids,” Barth said.
“It’s an outpour that I can’t even describe, it’s heartwarming,” he said.
“The La Plata Barrack went above and beyond,” Donna Cobb with Maryland State Police Headquarters said.
Cobb said she has never heard of a barrack going out of its way to advertise the toy drive like the La Plata Barrack did.
Pete O’Neal, a news cameraman in Baltimore, came up with the idea of the KinderTime toy drive in honor of his mother, who was murdered in East Baltimore in 1993. O’Neal said that after the Ronald McDonald House was robbed of its gaming consoles for the children, he started the toy drive to replace the items that were stolen.
“We not only replaced the gaming consoles, but also had somewhere the kids could have them in their rooms, who were unable to come down to the common area,” O’Neal said.
He said that Maryland State Police, Walmart, citizens in Baltimore County, Baltimore City and many more donate to the KinderTime toy drive.
O’Neal said last year they had 130 police cars that loaded up their cars full of toys and went around Baltimore distributing the toys to children.
He said one of the important factors of the toy drive is for police to interact with children to take away the negative stigma that they have of police officers.
“Officers are seen in some of the worst neighborhoods, singing songs with the kids and having a ball,” O’Neal said.
He said that he now honors fallen police officers with the KinderTime toy drive. This year O’Neal said the toy drive is honoring Baltimore Det. Sean Suiter, as well as other recently fallen police and firefighters in the area. Suiter was shot and killed in Baltimore on Nov. 15.