Toys for Kids hits the streets of Gallup
Clear Channel DJ Telisia Montano does a live broadcast from inside a truck in the parking lot of the Cedar Hills shopping center Friday. Clear Channel is hosting a toy drive there through Saturday night and hopes to fill up the truck. — © 2008 Gallup Independent / Cable Hoover

Copyright © 2008
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — Disc jockeys for the Clear Channel radio stations will be braving the elements as they carry out the third annual Toys for Kids Drive today at The Cedar Hills Shopping Center on South Second Street.

The event, co-sponsored by the Gallup Fire Fighters Association and several Gallup businesses, actually began at 7 a.m. Friday and will continue until midnight today. Mary Ann Armijo, the stations’ director, said disc jockeys stayed throughout Friday night and Saturday morning collecting toys.

“Our goal is to fill the semi-truck with toys,” Armijo said.

Last year, the stations collected more than 500 toys, which were then turned over to the Navajo Nation Police Department. The day before Christmas, police officers distributed the toys to reservation families.

This year, Armijo said, the toys will be distributed locally with first priority to children at the county and Indian Health Service hospitals.

The radio stations will be broadcasting live throughout Saturday from the toy collection site.

By 2 p.m. Friday, more than 100 toys had been donated with a couple of dozen stuffed animals and a dozen or more toy soldiers being the most popular items by that time.