Nearly 150 volunteers from the Toy Industry Foundation (TIF) and the National Court Appointed Special Advocates Association (CASA) gave gift packages to 7,000 foster children in need throughout Southern California as part of the TIF’s annual Play Your Part event. Forty-one companies from the toy industry participated in the event, including Funrise Toy Corp., Jakks Pacific, Mattel, Patch Products, Tomy International, and VTech Electronics North America, as Big Heart and Specialty level event sponsors.
Volunteers from 30 of the companies on-site helped assemble dolls, games, puzzles, arts and crafts, and other skill-building playthings into special gift packages for CASA program sites in Los Angeles, Imperial County, Santa Barbara, San Bernadino, Kern County, and the Eastern Sierra regions.
TIF and CASA have been partners since 2013, and TIF has distributed more than 200,000 toys to foster children served by CASA programs to date. In addition, TIF provides grant funds to the CASA network to help recruit and train volunteers to work with children who experience foster care.
