City Of Long Beach:After Successful Toy And Book Drive, Long Beach Launches New Letter Writing Campaign For Migrant Children

Press release from the City of Long Beach:

5/10/2021

“The last two weeks have been amazing. From the beginning, we were extremely impressed at the volume of donations coming from not only the Long Beach community but surrounding communities as well,” said Steve Goodling, President & CEO of the Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau. 

“Once again, Long Beach has demonstrated how generous a community it truly is—from families driving up with their children to drop off new toys at the collection centers, to community groups arranging their own drives and dropping them off at our collection stations, the stories have been numerous and amazing. The number of toys and books necessitated almost daily pickups from our various hotel partners, whose bell closets were overflowing with gifts. We thought that this gift giving would continue at that level for the first three or four days, but it continued for a solid two weeks, with many donors dropping off gifts until the very last minute — allowing the collection effort to gather 30,000 books and toys. We appreciate everyone who helped extend a warm welcome from Long Beach to the migrant children,” Steve concluded.

Today through Saturday, May 22, the community can drop off encouraging letters for the children at various locations in Long Beach. HHS will provide letters directly to the children and also display them within the shelter so the children can read positive messages from the community throughout their stay.

For the letter writing campaign, the letters should:

Letters can be dropped off at the following locations:The Long Beach Public Library (LBPL) will accept letters from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, at the following LBPL To-Go locations:

Letters can also be dropped at the following area hotels from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily:

The City’s previous toy and book drive for the arriving migrant children was a tremendous success thanks to the Long Beach community, people and organizations throughout the region and the over 8,000 community volunteers who spread the word. Approximately 30,000 books and toys were collected. The children, both current and future, now have a large library of books to choose from to read at their own leisure and plenty of toys, games and drawing materials to use to spark their imaginations.

In addition, monetary donations continue to be accepted through the Migrant Children Support Fund, launched by the Long Beach Community Foundation. All donations are tax-deductible and are designated specifically to provide assistance and supportive resources related to the migrant children humanitarian effort in Long Beach. Donations can be made online, or by mailing a check to the Long Beach Community Foundation at 400 Oceangate, Suite 800, Long Beach, CA 90802. Check donations should include “Migrant Children Support Fund” on the check designation.

Migrant Children Support Fund Long Beach Community Foundation online For more information regarding the temporary HSS migrant shelter at the Long Beach Convention Center, visit the City’s online portal. portal

This press release was produced by the City of Long Beach. The views expressed here are the author’s own.