22nd Annual Toy-Ful Celebration concert at Glenview Community Church

The Simple Gifts Concert Series of the Glenview Community Church, 1000 Elm in Glenview, presents the 22nd Annual Toy-ful Celebration concert on Saturday, December 19 at 7:00pm. Bring your family for this festive evening of holiday music and fun. The 45 voice Chancel Choir, directed by Guillermo Muñoz Küster, and the Glenview Concert Band, under the direction of Greg Wojcik, will present holiday favorites. Doors open at 6:30; Christmas carol sing along begins at 6:45. This concert benefits the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves Toys for Tots program. The concert is free, but please bring an unwrapped new toy (or toys) to donate to the Marines to help make some child’s Christmas morning a little brighter.

The concert began as a holiday solo recital for soprano Tricia Melzer Swaydrak. A few weeks before the concert was to take place in 1992, she decided that something good should come from it. “So, I wrote to my family and asked that they all bring a toy and I would take the bag to the firehouse in town where my father was a Captain and I would put them in the Toys for Tots “barrel”, Tricia said. “I grew up seeing that barrel at the fire station and Daddy always told us kids that even though we weren’t rich, there were always kids out there who had less. (I am 1 of 7 kids and he worked 3 jobs to keep us warm and fed!) I expected to get 25 toys and ended up with 150! The next year I got involved with the Marines at MACG48 (who used to be based at the Glenview Naval Air Station) directly and they were thrilled. We have been “faithful” to MACG48 ever since.”

In 1993, Tricia added a small vocal ensemble of eight friends to the concert line up. Each year a few more friends joined in until the Toy Choir reached 25 members. At the 20th Anniversary concert Tricia decided to turn this successful family holiday event over to the Glenview Concert Band. This will be their third year performing and this year the Glenview Community Church Chancel Choir will be adding their voice to the event.

The Village of Glenview collects toys at the five fire stations in Glenview. Along with the toys collected at the concert, the Glenview donation has grown into more than 2,000 toys.

The Toys for Tots program is a Reserve program and all of the Marines involved are volunteers. Over the years they began to make a special appearance at the concert: sometimes three or four; sometimes as many as eight. Tricia estimates that she has met about 150 Marines through this concert over the years. The Marines provide the toys to social service organizations that request them for their clients.

Don’t miss your chance to be part of this special holiday tradition. And don’t forget to bring a toy!