RonnieMan Holiday Toy Drive 2021!

Every year Chicago's RonnieMan Foundation brings joy to kids across the South Side while honoring the life of Ronald Johnson—cut short by police in 2014—through a holiday toy drive. As RonnieMan's mom, Dorothy Holmes describes,

"December 14, 2014 was the first time I gave kids in the neighborhood toys. Only a few weeks had passed since RonnieMan’s murder. We set out a couple card tables and handed out little goodie bags of small toys at the entrance to Washington Park, the spot where my son’s blood has soaked the ground.

"I knew December would be almost impossible to bear. My son’s birthday was December 14. I could still hear him asking me, every year, even when he was grown, “Mom, what you get for me?” He loved Christmas, loved getting presents.

"So I turned my pain in December into the month of happiness by collecting toys with the help of BLM Chicago. . . . In December 2015,we brought huge boxes filled with gifts to Dewey elementary. I ran into a lot RonnieMan’s teachers there and they remembered him. A lot of kids from the neighborhood knew him, too."

This year, the RonnieMan Foundation is adopting three elementary schools to distribute toys and share laughter and love to brighten the season.

Please share what you can and share the link far and wide!

To purchase toys directly, shop from our wishlist: https://amzn.to/3Buuakz

Learn more about the RonnieMan Foundation at: https://rampantmag.com/2020/04/turning-pain-into-action/