Spreading the Joy of Play: Our 5th Annual Holiday Toy Drive

mayantechs
Dec 29, 2025
5 min read

Our fifth annual Holiday Toy Drive has officially come to a close. On Friday, December 19, we delivered more than two thousand toys to Children’s Medical Center Dallas. Seeing all of the toys gathered together, knowing where they were headed and who they were meant for, was a powerful reminder of why this effort matters.

This toy drive is part of our Open Heart Initiative, our commitment to serving the communities around us with intention and care. Each year, this initiative invites us to step beyond our roles and titles and simply show up for families who are facing difficult moments. The holidays are often joyful, but for many children and parents inside a hospital, they can also feel uncertain and heavy. A toy cannot change a diagnosis, but it can soften a day, spark imagination, or create a small moment of relief. That matters.

This year’s drive was also a celebration of everyone who chose to take part. Team members, friends, clients, families, and local businesses came together once again to make this possible. What started five years ago as a heartfelt idea has grown into a tradition that brings our community together in a very real and meaningful way.

About the Open Heart Initiative

The Open Heart Initiative is our way of putting compassion into motion. It is a company-wide commitment to give our time, attention, and resources to causes that lift others. Technology is what we do every day, but this initiative reminds us of who we want to be while we do it. It creates space for service, for generosity, and for showing up where it matters.

The Holiday Toy Drive has become one of the most meaningful expressions of this program. It brings people together for a simple and powerful purpose: to bring joy to children who are facing moments of healing during the holiday season.

The Open Heart Initiative reminds us that community involvement is not something separate from our business. It is part of how we understand leadership. It is part of how we grow as a team. And it is something we plan to continue nurturing for many years to come.

Highlights from our 2025 Holiday Toy Drive

This year marked the fifth anniversary of our Holiday Toy Drive, and it felt both familiar and new. Familiar, because the spirit of giving that surrounds this effort has become part of our rhythm as a company. New, because each year brings new supporters, new stories, and new moments that remind us why this work matters.

In total, more than two thousand toys were collected and delivered this year. Our community showed up with generosity and enthusiasm. Team members contributed, families participated, clients asked how they could help, and local businesses once again opened their doors to support the cause. The result was rows of toys ready to be shared with children spending their holidays at Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

Across all five years of the Holiday Toy Drive, our community has now donated more than eight thousand toys to Children’s Health. It is a number that still makes us pause when we see it written down, because behind it are thousands of individual acts of kindness and thousands of children who received a moment of happiness when they needed it most.

Reaching the five-year mark was an important milestone for us. What began as a single idea has grown into a tradition that has now placed thousands of toys into the hands of children. It has connected people across communities and has given our team a shared project rooted in kindness.

Delivery Day at Children’s Medical Center Dallas

Delivery day brought everything together. On Friday, December 19, we loaded a U-Haul full of toys and made our way to Children’s Medical Center Dallas to complete this year’s toy drive. Seeing the toys packed and ready for delivery was a proud moment for everyone involved.

Several of our supporters joined us for the delivery. Representatives from Club Pilates, Jay Maymi from The Jay Maymi Talk Show, Xcellence Fitness, and Virtus Barber Co. stood alongside our team as we brought the toys into the hospital. Their presence reflected what this effort truly represents: a community coming together with a shared intention to support children and families.

We were welcomed by staff from Children’s Health, including members of the Child Life team who receive and distribute the toys throughout the hospital. Knowing that these toys will soon reach children who are going through treatment or recovery is what gives meaning to every part of this effort.

We would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to photographer Stephen Boutwell from Turn 2 Sports Photography, who generously donated his time to capture the delivery event. His photos help us preserve these moments and share them with everyone who took part in making this toy drive possible.

Why This Matters to Our Culture

The Holiday Toy Drive has become much more than an annual activity. It is part of who we are as a team. Each year it reminds us that our work has meaning beyond projects, deadlines, and daily routines. It reminds us that we are part of a larger community and that we share a responsibility to give back.

Efforts like this shape our culture in quiet but important ways. They encourage us to think about people first. They give our team opportunities to serve together. They allow us to see the impact of collective action, not only in numbers, but in the smiles and relief these donations help create for children and families. That perspective influences how we work with one another and with our clients as well.

We are incredibly proud of everyone who participated this year. We are grateful to our team members, families, clients, and especially to the local businesses that chose to support the toy drive and stand beside us during the delivery. Their involvement makes this initiative stronger every single year.

As we close our fifth annual Holiday Toy Drive, our greatest feeling is gratitude. Gratitude for the trust of Children’s Health. Gratitude for a community that shows up. Gratitude for the opportunity to continue this tradition through our Open Heart Initiative. We look forward to carrying this spirit of service into the coming year and to returning once again to support the children and families at Children’s Medical Center Dallas.

Looking Ahead

As we complete our fifth year of the Holiday Toy Drive, we are already thinking about what comes next. The need does not disappear after the holidays, and neither does our commitment. Our goal is to continue growing this effort, strengthening our partnership with Children’s Health, and finding new ways to involve our community.

We hope to inspire even more individuals and local businesses to join us in the years ahead. Each toy, each conversation, and each shared effort reminds us what is possible when people come together with a clear purpose. The Open Heart Initiative will continue to guide our work in this area, helping us identify opportunities to serve with intention and compassion.

We are proud of what has been built over these five years, and we are equally excited about what is ahead. There is more kindness to share, more families to support, and more moments of joy to help create.