Employees of Plach Automotive with the toys they raised in this year’s “Fill the Truck” drive (Plach Automotive Inc. Facebook)
For four years now, Plach Automotive has held a “Fill the Truck” toy drive, which ran this year throughout most of November and a week into to December. Owner Dan Plach says that they were accepting either new, unwrapped toys or a cash donation this year.
“We had a huge outpouring from the community bringing in toys,” said Plach. “Sometimes [customers] just stopped in for service and they weren’t prepared to drop off a toy, they were generous enough to provide a cash donation. The other thing is Plach Automotive donated five dollars for every oil change, so there was a lot of toys purchased with that contribution.”
In his four years holding this toy drive, Plach says this year has been one of the most successful thus far.
“We definitely far exceeded the goal we said for ourselves,” Plach stated proudly. “The volume of toys was higher than it was in earlier toy drives and the cash donations were also much larger. There’s a lot of neat things you see, like mom and dad come in with a young child, and watching the younger child put the toy in and teaching them the value of being generous and taking care of each other. There’s a lot of really good things that come from this.”
Plach says his company was looking for ways to make a positive impact on the community, and they noticed a shortage, especially at Christmas time, for toys to make sure everyone has an opportunity to enjoy the holiday season here locally.
“Every toy stays local and every donation is turned into a toy,” said Plach. “It’s a community event, every toys stays in the community, and there’s an evening when all of the toys get dispersed. We’re very thankful for the community outpouring and hopefully provide a nice Christmas for a lot of families that just don’t have the means to provide for themselves.”
Plach Automotive works with the New London Community Cupboard to ensure the toys are distributed throughout the New London community.