Over 200 Children to Benefit from Universal Love Toy Drive

The seriously ill patients of Children's Hospital Los Angeles will receive over 1,000 gifts for Christmas this year thanks to the annual toy drive organized by Universal Love Foundation, Agoura Hills' non-profit dedicated to helping single-parent families through free counseling, educational and vocational scholarships, and temporary financial assistance.

The drive, which is in its eighth year, accepted unwrapped toys for babies through teens, and gift cards to local stores, from generous patrons across the region through Dec. 15. An open house was held at the foundation's Hope Grief and Loss Center on Wednesday to celebrate the successful culmination of the drive.

Volunteers will visit the hospital and hand out the gifts to at least 200 sick children before Christmas, said Universal Love founder Manzar Amini. Any toys that are left over will go to the Hospital's Chase Child Life Program, created in 1970, which addresses the social, emotional and developmental needs of children dealing with the stress of illness and hospitalization.

"We've been involved with the Child Life Program since 2003, and we feel it is so important," said Amini. "In addition to toys and playrooms, the program offers special counseling for the sick children and their siblings."

Each year, the Child Life Program creates a wish list from the children, Amini explained. Community members are encouraged to drop off unwrapped new toys at Brent's Deli in Westlake and Studio Tyla in Thousand Oaks. "They can include anything from baby rattles to new iPods," she said. 

Vallerie Vollmer, an insurance agent with Farmers Insurance who works next door to Universal Love, said she took up the toy drive with her networking group, Conejo Professional Alliance. 

"Each year, we donate to a non-profit organization, so I asked the group if we could support the toy drive," Vollmer said. "They were all in agreement that it was a worthy cause." The Alliance donated 30 toys.

Debbie Buxbaum, who has been a volunteer with the foundation for over 10 years, said that the toy drive keeps getting bigger each year. "It's wonderful to see so many people who care," she said.