Nicklaus Children’s Hospital collected one of the largest hauls of donated toys in the event’s history on Saturday, December 7, during its annual Spread Joy Toy Drive Drop-off. Thanks to the generosity of the South Florida community, toys with an estimated value of more than $750K were gifted to the Hospital this year.
Each year, the Spread Joy Toy Drive brings together corporate partners and individuals who donate new, unwrapped toys to bring extra cheer to patients at the 307-bed pediatric specialty Hospital and outpatient centers during the holidays and throughout the year. The Hospital’s team of specialists will continue collecting and sorting toys for the next two weeks.
"At Nicklaus Children’s, we are committed to seeing children thrive through exceptional care,” said Meghan Matthews, Director of Annual Giving Nicklaus Children’s Hospital Foundation. “Our annual Spread Joy Toy Drive helps us deliver the best care during the holidays and every day, for every child. Whether you donated a toy in person at our hospital or through our ongoing Virtual Toy Drive, you have helped a child experience joy and healing far beyond the month of December.”
On the eight days of Hanukkah and on Christmas morning, every patient admitted at Nicklaus Children’s will wake up with a gift bag of toys and other goodies tailored to their age range. The remaining toys are used throughout the year for patients and their siblings as birthday presents and prizes, milestone gifts, going-home gifts, and for therapy and education.
This year’s toy drive was sponsored by Delta, FPL, Pacin Levine Attorneys at Law, and Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial.
In addition to the drop-off, monetary donations are encouraged through the Virtual Toy Drive or purchasing toys off the Amazon Wishlist, which you can donate to all year long!
Learn more about all the ways to help spread joy to Nicklaus Children’s patients at
www.nicklauschildrens.org/spreadjoy About Nicklaus Children's Hospital, Where Your Child Matters Most ™ (2025)
For 75 years, Nicklaus Children's has stood as a beacon of hope for children and families across the state of Florida and beyond. Nicklaus Children's Hospital is South Florida's #1 nonprofit, freestanding specialty licensed hospital exclusively for children serving close to 70 percent of children in the Miami metropolitan community. In addition, Nicklaus Children's offers care within NCH North Hospital in Naples, Jupiter Medical Center's De George Pediatric Unit and select Baptist Health Hospital pediatric emergency units. The hospital and its network of more of nearly 35 outpatient care locations offer lifesaving care in in Miami-Dade, Broward, Martin, and Palm Beach counties. These outpatient locations include an array of urgent care, pediatric primary care, and subspecialty care centers and are either hospital-based or outpatient locations under Nicklaus Children's Pediatric Specialists, LLC (NCPS). Providing a pipeline of future physicians and groundbreaking research, Nicklaus Children's is an academic and clinical affiliate of Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Nicklaus Children's is home to centers of excellence including the Helen & Jacob Shaham Cancer & Blood Disorders Institute, the Nicklaus Children's Orthopedic, Sports Medicine and Spine Institute, Nicklaus Children's Neuroscience Institute and Nicklaus Children's Heart Institute. The 325-bed hospital is renowned for excellence in all aspects of pediatric medicine, with many programs routinely ranked among the nation's best by U.S. News & World Report since 2008. Nicklaus Children's also includes a nonprofit physician practice subsidiary with over 40 specialties, and an ambulatory surgery center.