St. Croix Casinos’ Gifts from the Heart Toy Drive benefits area charities

An ongoing program of the St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin will help to make Christmas much merrier for hundreds of children in northwest Wisconsin: from November 30 through December 6, the tribe’s 2015 Gifts from the Heart toy drive collected 5,000 toys and gifts for children of all ages.

More than 2,500 guests of the St. Croix tribe’s three casinos—St. Croix Casino Danbury, St. Croix Casino Hertel Express and St. Croix Casino Turtle Lake—donated toys to this year’s drive. Donated toys were distributed to 15 Northwest Wisconsin charities on December 8 and 9 by Elizabeth Denniston, Sanford Mosay, Phyllis Lowe, Marvin “Tom” Tahmahkera and Judy Warmanen of St. Croix Casino Turtle Lake.

Since 1993, the Gifts from the Heart toy drive has collected and distributed 110,000 toys to Northwest Wisconsin charities.

The following charities received toys from the 2015 Gifts from the Heart drive: Brian’s Heart, Milltown, WI; Christmas for Kids Program, Chetek; Clayton Christmas Fund, Clayton; Indianhead Community Action, Webster; Operation Christmas, Balsam Lake; Operation Santa, Rice Lake; Polk-Burnett Holiday Gift Drive, Siren; Prairie Farm Lions Club, Prairie Farm; Salvation Army, New Richmond; Salvation Army, Rusk County; Spooner Christmas Fund, Spooner; Stone Lake Emergency Fund, Stone Lake; Turtle Lake S.O.S. Program, Turtle Lake; Washburn County Food Pantry, Spooner; WestCAP, Glenwood City.