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The Yoyodrive x Yoyofactory 2011!
« on: Today at 03:40:49 AM »
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Hey there everyone, Zammy here.

I usually do not post on the yoyo forums anymore but when I do it seems that people tend to listen, so here I am to speak about the Yoyodrive. Don't know what the Yoyodrive is? Lets speak about it for a bit.

A number of years ago, in 2007, I had this spur of the moment idea of spreading out the love of yoyoing while also combining that concept with the love of charity giving.This spur of the moment craze to try and get money caused me to sell so many of my personal yoyos. I took that sum of currency and spoke to a Major Yoyo company to see if they sold in bulk format for their throws. At the time it was Yoyojam. They sold me various Projams and I took them to two different Christmas Charity programs in my area. A good month later I recieved a letter letting me know every single yoyo was taken and given to a child.

The following years ahead until 2011 proved to be as not as satisfactory compared to 2007. In 2008 I had the idea to create a signature mod yoyo and whatever amount of money I had I would buy bulk yoyos to donate, sadly they did not sell as good as I had hoped. 2009 came it was a bit sucessful where I bought Duncan Mosquitoes in a giant plastic tub and donated them through Toys for Tots. 2010 was the worst of the years I have committed myself to do this because I was more focused on my family and myself. Sounds selfish eh?

Its no doubt that the economy is serving a unpleasant welcoming for this coming holidays as even more parents are losing their jobs and money is scarce. Parents will have a hard time to try and be able to get gifts for the tree. So for this year, I decided to take initiative just like how I did in 2007. I tried to email a number of companies but the only one that replied back in a fast manner was Yoyofactory to which they supplied me with a number of Yoyofactory Ones/Pr1mes to Donate.

I'm also using the money to buy a good sum of food/clothing for the various pantries/drop offs this year in my area. So many people need help, so someone has to step up!

I just figure I would share this with you all. I hope some other people out there are doing something similar that is yoyo related.

We all can make a difference.

~Zammy

I'm surprised not a single person said anything on here about the Yoyodrive or perhaps what they could do when it comes to the holidays that is charitable/volenteer. I guess these things happen, still much love to you guys none the less.

Anyways, to give a bit of a update, I've received my goal amount of $300 dollars and with that said $175 of it was to replenish what I spent for the mass amount of yoyos from Yoyofactory that I donated to three different things. Two of them were christmas related charities for Lesser income families. The other was taken to a Cancer ward for children here in Marshfield Saint Joseph's hospital which is in the top 5 for best hospitals in the US.

Thanks to those that really helped me to replenish what I used as far as the money I had used to buy such Yoyofactory yoyos and for those currently still buying the rest of them. The money will be spent in the future on my Airfare for Yoyocontest, perhaps a new camera and or perhaps a new used vehicle.

~Z

like i said before zammy, i really applaud you for doing this and i think its way awesome. maybe i can help you in someway shape or form.
way to be awesome

HI Zammy,
I think it is awesome that you are working at donating yoyo's for the kids. There can never be enough people like you. I can't believe there is no formal yoyo drive in place already! I work in the juvenile criminal justice field and have also been seeking donations to help our yoyo club get off the ground and to be able to get free starter yoyos for kids joining the club.

My experience has been very similar to yours. I've had the most help from local businesses as well as Yoyofactory. While many criticize Yoyofactory for being to large, they are in a position to help, and choose to do so. That is very commendable.

I would love to get in touch with you and see if there is something we can do for future years. I've found that finding donations has been relatively easy part. There are many organizations/businesses out there with funds to help kids. The biggest problem is getting yoyo's into hands of kids who will actually be interested and put them to use. I am also an adoptive/foster parent and my problem with toy drives around christmas time is the impersonal nature of the gifts. The amount of money and time put into these gives is immense, but the reality of foster care and troubled homes is that most toys are broken/lost/misplaced within a week after christmas. A yoyo would get tossed aside quicker than you can say merry christmas. very sad but true.

Giving yoyo's away in conjucntion with demonstrations; non-profit clubs that support disadvantaged youth, People doing yoyo seminars/classes; And local contests that help promote competition and progress are where we need to focused with the drives. While the cheaper yoyo's are easy to get in bulk, I'm finding the need for more pricey metal yoyo. As the kids advance, you have some kids that have money to buy nice metals and others that never will. Please send me a PM and we can exchange personal information if you're interested in collaborating and getting something started. One of the reasons Duncan was sooo successful is that they had so many yoyocontests all over the country. Every town had a yoyo champion. I really think there is something to learn there. While yoyocontests today are very impressive, thier is a huge void from beginners to pro!