The Beverly Rotary Club and the Learning Express Toy Store are pleased to announce their co-sponsorship of a seasonal toy drive for the benefit of Kennedy Kares. The drive was held at the Learning Express Toy Store in North Beverly Plaza on Dodge Street on Saturday November 16, 2019.Kennedy Kares is an organization founded by Kennedy Steiner, now a sophomore at Beverly High School. Six years ago, at the age of eight, Kennedy responded to the unfortunate theft in Danvers of several boxes of newly collected toys scheduled to be donated to the U.S. Marine sponsored “Toys for Tots” program. When it became clear to Kennedy that many expectant and needy children would not be receiving any gifts for Christmas, she donated many of her own toys and collected 100 toys as part of MIX 104.1 WWBX-FM radio toy drive. She became committed to a course of action that such a problem should never happen again if she had anything to do with it. Following this experience, Kennedy has individually spearheaded annual toy drives reaching levels of 8,200 brand new toys in 2018 and over 30,000 toys over the past six years. These have all been donated to Toys for Tots, Beverly Hospital and Mass General Hospital.
Earlier this year, the Rotary Club of Beverly recognized Kennedy for her outstanding and sustained love for children in need, clearly distinguishing this young woman with Rotary’s most prestigious community based Paul Harris Award. The Rotary Club is now pleased to reaffirm Kennedy’s pledge to create joy and happiness for many hope-filled children during this up-coming holiday season.