Hundreds of kids in Central Massachusetts will receive new toys this week thanks to the local film industry. A recently-filmed production featuring a scene set in a toy store donated hundreds of new toys to a Worcester movie prop shop, Westerman's. On Saturday, Westerman's will host a toy drive to distribute the toys to hundreds of local families.

The Massachusetts film and TV production industry has a tradition of giving back to the community.

Click the link below to watch an NBC-10 Boston news piece about the toy drive.

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/toys-from-movie-set-donated-to-worcester-movie-prop-shop/2256608/

Film and television productions have made multiple donations of clothes, furniture, tools, building materials, and much more to non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Goodwill, Big Brother/Big Sister, Cradle to Crayons, Project Home Again, Rosie’s Place, The Home for Little Wanderers, and Room 13, among others.

For example, Grownups 2 alone donated $200,000 in used building materials for low-income housing in Boston. And in the last five years, Project Home Again, which is based in Lawrence and provides low-income families with essential recycled household goods, has received donations from over 20 film and TV productions with as much as $300,000 worth of donations in a year.

IATSE Local 481 member, Rebecca Greene, the Set Decorator on the recently wrapped feature "Black Friday" made sure that all the new toys from the set (two truckloads) were donated to Westermans and distributed to kids in need. 

Click the links below for other press on the Toy Drive:

https://www.telegram.com/story/news/2020/12/19/film-company-donates-toys-worcester-families-need/3966423001/

https://spectrumnews1.com/ma/worcester/news/2020/12/19/toy-drive-westerman