On Tuesday December 22nd, 2009, the Arizona Ghostbusters visited two of the local major children's hospitals to deliver toys for the holidays. The hospitals visited were Cardon's Children's Medical Center and Phoenix Children's Hospital. These deliveries have long been in the making with our first collection of donations starting with our screening of "Ghostbusters" in November and our actual toy drive earlier in the month. Between the screening and the toy drive we were able to collect $450 in cash donations and over 300 toys. The toy drive and these deliveries benefitted families that are a part of the local Children's Cancer Network. The network assists families that have children undergoing cancer treatment with obtaining care services, transportation, offer encouragement and support, and help brighten their holidays. This was our first toy drive and delivery with the network and certainly won't be our last.

The first delivery of the day was at Cardon's Medical Center. There the toys were set up in a mini-theater and Real Ghostbuster episodes were played for the children coming in. The children at this hospital were still undergoing regular treatment and will unfortunately still be there during Christmas. The children came in with their parents and picked out toys and ate breakfast. Each toy we collected was marked with a sticker with our combined logo with the Network. Some children had seen the cartoon before and some hadn't, but they all enjoyed them. It was definitely a welcome break from their treatment schedules and we were told before we left the children were already enjoying their toys. The second delivery was at the Phoenix Children's Hospital outpatient wing where children and families regularly come for treatment. There the toys were set up in an examination room with the Ghostbusters soundtrack playing. After treatment the children came in and picked out their toys. The toys not used on these deliveries will be used on Christmas morning and will also be handed out throughout the year to new patients. We'd like to thank Cardon's Medical Center, Phoenix Children's Hospital, and the Children's Cancer Network for letting us help brighten the holidays of these families.

Cardon's Children's Medical Center


Phoenix Children's Hospital

On Saturday December 5th, 2009 was our first toy drive for the Children's Cancer Network at Spazdog Comics. The event featured the return of Sony's 28ft Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. The Ecto-AZ was on hand as well as our booth to collect toys and any additional cash donations. Any toys recieved was placed in the back of the Ecto. On hand was local comic artist Daniel Bradford selling his limited Stay-Puft vs. Robot 13 prints for donations to the drive. The store put all of their toys on sale and for each figure purchased there, the store would donate another one to the drive. We had 8 busters on hand, 4 in khaki suites and 4 in Ghostbusters 2 grey suits. We rotated members between roadside duty and staying with Puft and the Ecto for pictures. This event was also the first time Phil Truong  was with us as an official member and did a great job.

By the end of the day we collected 300 toys and $150 in cash donations from the Puft prints and our booth. With the recent screening raffle donations we had a combined total of $450 total to give the Children's Cancer Network. Each holiday season the network adopts families of children undergoing cancer treatment. The toys will be distributed between the families at their homes and at the local hospitals. The cash will help purchase addtional items the families need. The organization was overwhelmed by what we were able to collect for them and we are continuing to plan future events with them. We're proud we've been able to brighten the holidays for these families. We'd like to thank Spazdog Comics and Daniel Bradford for helping with this great event.

On Friday December 4th, 2009, the Arizona Ghostbusters set up their fundraising booth at the First Friday Art Walk in downtown Phoenix to collect funds for the Children's Cancer Network Toy Drive on December 5th. With it being the holiday season the Santa hats and Ghostbusters 2 uniforms came out. All funds collected were used to purchase toys for the drive. We'd like to thank everyone who weathered the cold and made donations.

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