(WXYZ) — Even though Christmas is 10-year-old Vivian Kolo's favorite holiday, she isn't excited about it for all the gifts she gets. She's excited about all the gifts she gives.
Vivian told us: "I have a lot of friends like ask me, ‘Why do you do this stuff all the time?’ I’m like “I just wanna put a smile on a kid's face on Christmas Day.'"
Vivian's mom Sarah Kolo said when Vivian was 6, she came to her saying she really wanted to collect toys to give to kids in the hospital for Christmas.
That was in 2019, and Vivian was able to collect some toys that first year. But now five years later, her toy drive has grown exponentially.
Last year, Vivian said she collected, "about 500 toys, but this year I really wanna get almost 800."
Sarah Kolo said, "She types up the flyer, gets them sent out, she talked to her class today, went to all the fifth-grade classrooms."
"I get like a ‘oh’ or a ‘wow!’" said Vivian talking about her class visits. "Like some kids have never seen me before and some kids are like, 'Oh you’re doing this again!’ So I think it’s really cool that they remember."
This year, Vivian is asking people to donate toys or money, which she'll use to buy more toys by Dec. 7.
Then she'll take everything donated and give it to the Children's Hospital of Michigan's Snowpile program.
The program provides Christmas gifts for hospitalized children and their siblings, helping to ease parent's load.
"She wants to fill a U-Haul for us to have to take the toys there," said Sarah talking about Vivian's goal this year.
Giving these gifts is the reason for the season for Vivian, who has always loved Christmas because of what she can do for others.
"It’s my favorite time of year because I do all this stuff," said Vivian.
If you would like to give to Vivian's toy drive, you can email Sarah Kolo to schedule a toy drop-off. Sarah's email is sarahkolo12@gmail.com.
You can also make a monetary donation to Sarah Kolo on Venmo using @sarah-kolo-1.
