LatinaLista — While December 25 is recognized as being THE day to share gifts in the United States, and around the world, there is another day that is equally important to most Latinos worldwide — Three Kings Day or Dia de Los Reyes Magos.
January 6 is the traditional day when most children in Latin America expect to be remembered with a present from the Three Kings who traveled far to bring their special gifts to the Baby Jesus.
For too many children whose families observe the day of Los Reyes Magos money to buy gifts just isn’t available whether they live in the United States or Latin America. So, Latinos in Social Media (LATISM) and Being Latino teamed together to create a unique online toy drive and fundraiser:
The first annual Three Kings Day Online Toy Drive & Fundraiser benefits The Children’s Aid Society’s Latino Outreach Initiative and the United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF].
The goal of the toy drive and fundraiser is to collect at least 400 toys which can be distributed to needy Latino children in the United States and to raise at least $1000 to help programs working for the survival, basic education and health needs of disadvantaged children in Latin America.
“In these tough economic times, it’s more important than ever to make sure that disadvantaged children in the US and Latin America enjoy the holidays and have access to basic necessities. LATISM is proud and excited to partner with the Being Latino network to help world-renowned organizations such as the Children’s Aid Society and UNICEF in their continued efforts to provide these services,” said Elianne Ramos, LATISM DC Media Relations Manager.
To launch the toy drive and fundraiser, a live Twitter party will take place on December 30, 2009 at 8 p.m. EST. Twitter users should use the hashtag #latismtoydrive or enter latismtoydrive in TweetChat.com.
To help/donate to the fundraiser, follow these guidelines:
• Make a monetary donation ONLINE through the specially set up Chipin/PayPal account (http://bit.ly/7B8yL0). Monetary donations will be accepted until January 3rd, 2010.
• Make a toy donation by sending new, unwrapped toys to: The Children’s Aid Society -105 East 22nd St, New York, NY 10010. Please use codename: LATISMTOYDRIVE09. Toy donations will be accepted until January 3rd, 2010.
• Follow and Retweet Toy Drive message using #latismtoydrive on Twitter
• Write about it on your blog
• Post the LATISM Toy Drive/Fundraising widget on your blog (http://bit.ly/5urQXF)
• Broadcast the LATISM Toy Drive/Fundraising link through FaceBook & LinkedIn pages/groups
