Written by: Andria Luo, FCSN Voices Senior Youth Reporter

This December, FCSN partnered with Television Station KTSF Channel 26 to host a holiday toy drive. For the first time, FCSN was selected from a pool of four prominent Chinese nonprofits to collaborate with the television station. Throughout the toy drive, countless generous donors stopped by FCSN’s San Jose and Fremont sites to drop off toys and gift cards that were then packaged and distributed to FCSN’s clients. Event organizers Anna Wang and Sylvia Yeh oversaw the entire process, helping organize the toy drive, then distributing gifts to FCSN’s clients. 

Although this partnership is new, FCSN has been hosting annual holiday toy drives for its clients for several years. In the past, FCSN has chipped in money for their staff to buy small gifts for their clients to ensure that everyone returns home with a present. 

This year, KTSF contributed to both the collection and preparation of toys. KTSF staff drove to FCSN sites all the way from San Francisco to deliver labels and help set up boxes for donations at Friends Coffee & Tea. “When we give our clients gifts, we know what they like, so we try to match the gifts to them,” said Sylvia Yeh, FCSN Executive Business Director. 

In light of the anti-Asian sentiment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, this FCSN and KTSF partnership  has meant a lot to those involved, especially since a majority of FCSN’s staff and clients are of Asian descent. “This event showed that our community stands together and supports each other, and I think that means even more than just the material goods. We appreciate the message and the embracement that the community sent to us. It really warms our hearts,” Yeh explains.