On what would have been her son Christian’s 13th birthday, Cincinnati mother Tanya Kennedy Gill spent Monday doing what has become a yearly ritual in her neighborhood: loading cars with toys and heading to local hospitals. This year she raised roughly $13,000 and collected about 800 toys, then delivered the haul to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the Dragonfly Foundation. Neighbors, family members and local volunteers turned her driveway into a mini fulfillment center, sorting, wrapping and packing gifts before everything hit the road.
A Decade Of Memorial Giving
This year’s total of about $13,000 and an estimated 800 toys came together in time for Christian’s birthday, and Local 12 notes the memorial toy drive has now hit its 10 year mark. “It’s not just about toys,” Gill said, explaining that the fundraiser is meant to carve out brief moments of normalcy and joy for kids who are stuck in hospital rooms instead of classrooms or playgrounds. Over the years, schools, churches and neighbors have steadily joined in, contributing new toys, gift cards and volunteer hours to keep Christian’s birthday tradition going.
Where The Donations Landed
This time, the family again split donations between Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the Dragonfly Foundation, which both provide in-hospital support and family services, according to The Dragonfly Foundation. Dragonfly focuses on programs that help pediatric cancer patients and their families find comfort and community while they navigate treatment, and Cincinnati Children’s runs a Giving Hope program that channels neighborhood fundraisers like Gill’s into direct support for patient care. Hospital child-life teams and nonprofit staff say drives like this help stock the shelves for small celebrations that can break up long, stressful stretches of treatment.
Christian's Fight And Why The Drive Matters
The annual tradition started after Christian, who spent much of his short life in and out of hospitals, died as a toddler following a battle with pediatric melanoma, according to the family's fundraising page. The family’s GoFundMe recounts his surgeries and chemotherapy and explains that the yearly effort began as a way to “bring a little bit of light” to other children facing treatment. Local reporting over the years has followed the family’s deliveries and the emotional reactions from both donors and recipients, underscoring how a toy or a gift card can feel like a very big deal when your world has shrunk to a hospital floor.
Local Support Keeps It Going
Gill’s toy drive is one of many small, neighborhood-led efforts that fuel support around Cincinnati Children’s. The hospital’s giving page notes that hundreds of community fundraisers each year help bolster patient care, from one-off events to long-running traditions like Christian’s memorial drive. Organizers say they plan to keep the birthday fundraiser going, and Dragonfly continues to coordinate in-person donations and volunteer help for deliveries. For Kennedy Gill, turning grief into an annual caravan of toys has become a way to keep her son’s memory present while offering something practical and hopeful to other families walking a path she knows all too well.
