Starbucks Pushes Toys, Not Coffee

Starbucks is kicking off its 3rd Annual Holiday Angels Toy Drive, which runs from Nov. 15 to Dec. 24, with help from The Early Show. During the drive, customers are invited to donate gifts to be delivered to seriously ill children during the holiday season.

Dan Lewis, a spokesperson for Starbucks, says every Starbucks will have a small Christmas tree with tags on it. The tags will offer suggestions for gift ideas. Toys can be placed in a basket in individual Starbucks locations. He says Starbucks' goal for this year is to collect at least 150,000 toys for Starlight kids across North America.

Since the program's inception, Starbucks has collected more than 200,000 gifts for children in need.

Customers are invited to purchase new gifts and deliver them unwrapped to Starbucks for distribution to seriously ill children in local communities. Suggested gifts include not only toys for individual children, but also videos and video game cartridges for use in Starlight Fun Centers in hospitals throughout the country, as well as other items used by hospitals for recreational purposes.

Gifts donated by Starbucks customers will be wrapped and delivered by Starbucks partners (employees) to local Starlight Children's Foundation locations for distribution to local hospitals, or directly to local hospitals that are a part of Starlight's network of medical facilities, which includes more than 1,000 pediatric units in North America.

Starlight Children's Foundation is an international non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for seriously ill children and their families. Working with more than 1,000 hospitals worldwide, the Foundation provides an impressive menu of both in-hospital and outpatient programs and services.

For more information about Starlight, log onto www.starlight-newyork.org or call (212) 354-2878.