Traton Homes Hosts Successful Toy Drive For Cobb Christmas

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Family-owned Traton Homes is celebrating 17 years of partnering with Cobb Christmas, one of the oldest non-profits in Cobb County. Dating back to 1963, the all-volunteer organization aids low-income working families during the holiday season who do not receive holiday assistance from any other source.

The builder’s annual “Stuff a Bus” toy drive event was a huge success, and thanks to generous donations from employees, vendors and the community, Traton Homes was able to once again fill up a Cobb Community Transit Bus with hundreds of toys to help families.

“Our home is here in Cobb County, and we just love to support the local community by helping raise money for this effort,” said Amy Kessler, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Traton Homes.

This year has been particularly challenging for the non-profit. In addition to creating a higher need this season, the COVID-19 pandemic has also changed the way Cobb Christmas operates. In 2020, a rigorous process is being used to clean and sanitize all toys that come into the warehouse. In addition, volunteers are following several prescreening and social distancing protocols to purchase, sort and select toys. In former years, families would be invited into the distribution center for photos with Santa and other activities. This year, cars will pull up and drive through and toys will be loaded in the cars.

“We operate on about a $35,000 budget each year,” said Cobb Christmas Chairperson Mark Riggans. “We buy a big portion of our toys in bulk, but could not do it without our partners like Traton Homes. We buy the bulk, but they supply the stuffed animals, cars, trucks, and other things that really brings it home for the kids. We really have to empty the bus before we go to Traton Homes because they are going to fill it up. They have shown up and shown out for 17 years and we cannot thank them enough.”

Each family that participates is given an appointment to receive toys and food at the annual distribution. Cobb Christmas provides at least three brand-new toys to each of about 1,500 kids.

Cobb Christmas is a non-profit, non-denominational organization dating back to 1963 that is dedicated to assisting low-income and working-poor families in Cobb County during the holiday season. For more information, visit www.CobbChristmas.net.

To learn more about Traton Homes, visit www.TratonHomes.com.

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