Mark The Shark Toy Drive: bringing joy to local children in need for 30 years

By Emily Wright

MILL HALL, PA – For the past 30 years, the Mark the Shark Toy Drive has become a familiar tradition for residents of Clinton County. Each December, the charitable event provides toys to families in need during the holiday season. Despite its longstanding presence, the story behind how the initiative got started remains largely unknown.

The toy drive event for this year is set to take place on Sunday, December 10, running from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the entrance of the Mill Hall Walmart. Anyone who would like to donate toys or make a monetary donation is encouraged to do so during the event, however, donations can be made in advance as well. Donated toys must be brand new and in their original packaging.

Those wanting to contribute before the toy drive event can drop off new toys at any of the collection boxes situated in various local businesses across Clinton County. Donations can also be sent directly to Mark Schlesinger at Schlesinger Communications Radio Station located at 21 East Main Street in downtown Lock Haven.

The Record had the opportunity to sit down with Schlesinger to learn more about the toy drive and its origins. Schlesinger, also known as “Mark the Shark” when he’s broadcasting live on-air, has been a well-known radio personality on 92.1 WSQV and 106.9 WVSQ and earlier stations for over 30 years. He is renowned not only for his community involvement through radio but also for his role as the founder of the Mark the Shark Toy Drive event for the past 30 consecutive years.

The first inaugural toy drive was held on December 10, 1994. December 10 is a date of personal significance for Schlesinger, as it marks the passing of his father. To honor him, Schlesinger aims to hold the toy drive on that date every year. This year’s toy drive happens to fall on the exact day that marks 40 years since his father’s passing.

Inspired by the birth of his son Noah in 1994, Schlesinger decided that during the approaching holiday season, he wanted to transform the grief he ordinarily experienced due to his father’s passing into something positive, so he made it his mission to give back to the community. Thus, the Mark the Shark Toy Drive was born.

The toy drive was initially created as what Schlesinger refers to as a “safety net” for families who missed the deadlines to sign up for other Christmas assistance programs or who had unexpectedly fallen on hard times. “The idea for the first toy drive came to me while I was working at a radio station out of Williamsport,” Schlesinger said. “The reason I chose to do a toy drive was that during the time I was working at that station, I would get phone calls from people asking for toys leading up to Christmas because the deadlines had passed for all of the other local toy drives,” he said.

Schlesinger recognized a clear need for additional support in the area during the holiday season as he received an increasing number of phone calls. Some of the individuals who called had missed the deadlines to sign up for Christmas assistance, while others had encountered unexpected hardships such as losing their jobs, and in a few cases even losing their homes due to a house fire. As people reached out to the radio station seeking other ways to ensure that their children would have toys to open on Christmas, Schlesinger became motivated to organize an event aimed at helping those who had experienced unfortunate circumstances leading up to the holidays. He explained that the mission of the toy drive is “to provide for people from all walks of life who have found themselves in a place of need”.

Over the years, the toy drive has grown substantially, creating a need for more help to get donated toys to families in need, so Schlesinger began to form partnerships with a number of local entities. “After the first year, I started working with the Emmaus Group from Immaculate Conception at St. Agnes Church. I pretty much collected the toys and then turned them over to the group for distribution to the families that needed them,” Schlesinger explained.

“The toy drive had really grown after the first three years or so, so I partnered with the Keystone Central School District (KCSD) and Central Mountain Middle School, working closely with the guidance office. By that time, the toy drive had grown to the point that we needed to start reaching out to other charitable organizations to help with distributing the toys,” he said.

Today, the toy drive involves approximately 25 different local organizations. A few of those that partnered with the Mark the Shark Toy Drive are Clinton County Children and Youth Services, Child and Infant Development, local daycare centers, the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program, and the Salvation Army, to name a few.

One of the highlights of the toy drive is its collaboration with the Toys for Tots program. This partnership, along with the involvement of other local organizations and businesses, operates through a database that allows for a more efficient distribution of toys to families in need. By working together, duplication of services to families can be prevented, and more children in Clinton County can receive gifts for Christmas each year.

Schlesinger takes to the airwaves of 92.1 WSQV and 106.9 WVSQ to promote the toy drive event, and he refers to his role as a “cheerleader” for the cause. “All I do is collect the toys and then I rely on the other organizations to use their discernment to disperse them to those in need,” he said.

Schlesinger emphasized that all donations go directly to local families within the Clinton County and the Keystone Central School District territory. In 2022, more than 1,200 children in Clinton County received toys through the toy drive, as reported by the County’s Toys for Tots Coordinator, Jeff Croak.

Looking ahead to future years, Schlesinger mentioned how families seeking assistance for Christmas can get enrolled. “Anybody who believes that they are going to be in need should contact the guidance or nurse’s office at any of the schools within the Keystone Central School District to make them aware so that they can be included. They can also contact any of the organizations we work with directly to get enrolled,” he explained.

Schlesinger shares that each year, the toy drive brings out the best in the community. “Each and every year, I’ve noticed that normal, everyday, average people rise to the occasion to do extraordinary things, and that’s impactful to me,” he said.

Schlesinger highlights the impact of the toy drive on families who often have to choose between providing their kids with necessities over Christmas gifts. Through the Mark the Shark Toy Drive, these families are able to put presents under their Christmas trees for their children, ensuring that the joy of the holiday season is not lost.

This year, the pickup location for families receiving toys will be Tri-County Church located at 205 Main Street in Mill Hall.

For more information about the Mark the Shark Toy Drive or Clinton County Toys for Tots, individuals can contact Mark by calling 570-748-4038 or by sending an email to marktheshark@wsqvradio.com. Individuals can also reach out to Jeff Croak, the Clinton County Toys for Tots Coordinator, at 570-360-9546.