Nov. 27, 2006
ATLANTA – The Georgia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Board will continue the sixth-annual Michael Isenhour Toy Drive this Tuesday prior to the start of the men’s basketball game against Penn State, which begins at 8 p.m. at Alexander Memorial Coliseum on the campus of Georgia Tech.
New, unwrapped toys will be collected from fans as they enter the basketball coliseum, or they may be dropped off at the Georgia Tech Athletic Association during business hours until Monday, December 4. The student-athletes will also collect toys prior to the start of Sunday’s women’s hoops game against the University of Georgia.
This year, the Georgia Tech student-athletes joined forces with local Unites States Marine Corps to collect the toys at each gate of the football stadium during the Georgia Tech-Miami homecoming football game, and they will again join forces in the second phase of the Toy Drive this week at Alexander Memorial Coliseum.
The Marines and Georgia Tech student-athletes collected more than $3000 and over 1,000 toys during the first phase of the Toy Drive.
“We were worried about the turnout, since the date of the Toy Drive was so early this year, but our fans rose to the challenge,” said Georgia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Board president Kristina Hull of the collection during the football game earlier this year. “And because of that success, we decided to extend our efforts through the start of basketball season.”
“We were approached by one of Michael’s former teammates, Robert Brooks, who is now a Marine, to help with Toys for Tots. So it is fitting that we extend the collection to the basketball games, which fall during the holiday season,” added Rob Skinner, advisor to the Georgia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Board.
“We are looking forward to working with the Marine Toys for Tots program again, which gets the toys that we collect directly back to the Atlanta community,” added Skinner. “And we are so fortunate to have more members of the United States Marine Corps on hand to assist in collecting those toys on Tuesday and Sunday.”
In the past five years, Georgia Tech has collected more than 8,500 toys that have gone to local kids in time for the holiday. This year, the Georgia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Board has set high hopes of collecting 2,000 toys, and are asking fans to help achieve this lofty goal in 2006.
The Toy Drive was the brainchild of former Georgia Tech basketball player Michael Isenhour in an effort to help 9/11 families, and began in 2001 as Isenhour was battling leukemia. The Georgia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Board renamed it the Michael Isenhour Toy Drive to create an ongoing legacy to their fellow student-athlete, who lost his battle with cancer in 2002.
