Less than a week remains in the current 1600 Toys for 1600 Girls and Boys toy drive this year. In order to make schedule for Christmas deliveries, final collections from all area donation drop-off boxes will take place after close of business next Tuesday, December 11. [1,2,3]
To help add momentum through the weekend, talk radio station AM 1600 WAAM will once again be doing a broadcast remote from the Saline Walmart in Pittsfield Township. That’s scheduled for Saturday, December 8, from 11:00am to 1:00pm, with hosts Dick Cupka and Thayrone X. [4,5,6,7]
As reported here just about a month ago now, Saline is solidly behind this effort — with A&H Lawn Service and Singleton Family Dentistry in addition to Walmart. [8,9]
Even closer is the 1600 Toys for 1600 Girls and Boys connection through its founder, the late Linda Hughes. Many here remember her from the Class of 1982 (when SHS was on North Maple in what is now the Middle School building). As General Manager of WAAM, she often spoke glowingly of her long friendship with our own Dr Michael Singleton. [10,11,12,13,14]
“Linda Hughes was a good friend and a patient,” Dr Singleton told Saline Journal this week. The toy drive “was her motivation, her inception.
“They had a platform with the radio station, and they wanted to use that to do this for others. When she first came up with 1600 Toys, she called and asked if she could put a drop-off box here, and I said, ‘Yes, of course, we’re all in.’ Then she handled everything, personally. Seemless easy.
You always knew when she came in with the box and the sign and decoration every year. There was a great energy with it, all joy. She had a magnetic personality, and she brought that to this. You know, there are a lot of children in our community that this benefits, but they need to have a voice. She gave them a voice.
If anyone feels it in their heart to give, we’ll make sure their gift gets to those in need.
Beyond another request to give this season and a focus on worthy recipients, 1600 Toys for 1600 Girls and Boys provides a personal reflection of what so often comes from Saline in terms of the heart behind such works. In this case, not just the work of Linda Hughes herself, but also the supporters she drew into her orbit — through whom those efforts may be expected to long continue.
“I’ll always do this in her legacy,” Dr Michael Singleton concluded. “Because it was important to her.”
References
- “Twelfth Annual ‘1600 Toys For 1600 Girls And Boys’ Donation Drive Is Underway And Needs Your Support” Dell Deaton (November 7, 2018) Saline Journal.
- AM 1600 WAAM (home page).
- The Salvation Army (home page).
- “Support ‘1600 Toys for 1600 Girls and Boys’ Gift Collection in Saline” Dell Deaton (December 5, 2015) Saline Journal.
- Walmart (home page).
- “Trigger Talk Radio” AM 1600 WAAM.
- “On The Edge with Thayrone” AM 1600 WAAM.
- A&H Lawn Service (home page).
- Singleton Family Dentistry (home page).
- “The Ann celebrates 8 couples who do business family style” Kyle Poplin (July 27, 2016) The Ann.
- “Linda Hedrick Hughes: December 16, 1963 – March 15, 2018” Robison-Bahnmiller.
- “Linda Hughes, In Loving Memory, Taken Home March 15, 2018” beltonford (March 24, 2018) YouTube.
- “A Michigan AM Adjusts Its Family Ownership” Adam Jacobson (February 15, 2018) Radio + Television Business Report.
- “The American Dream” AM 1600 WAAM. https://www.waamradio.com/the-american-dream/
