Stuffing the Stockings

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So what’s a company to do with 1 million excess toys?

Give them away at Christmastime, of course.

Fox Entertainment Group found itself in the enviable position of playing corporate Santa this year after accumulating the toys, left over from past marketing campaigns.

The toys range from Strawberry Shortcake dolls from the popular children’s TV show to plenty of Garfield the cat. They were donated to 17 L.A.-area social service agencies for distribution to homeless and needy children.

“We wanted to give back to the local community. We had them in a warehouse,” said Julie Henderson, senior vice president of corporate communications for News Corp., parent of the L.A. subsidiary.

The single biggest beneficiary was the Shelter Partnership, an L.A. organization that is dedicated to moving the homeless off the streets.

The organization received about one-quarter of the toys because it operates a 108,000-square-foot warehouse in Bell where it stores goods for more than 200 partner agencies. Shelter is distributing the toys to those partners, such as the Union Rescue Mission and the Los Angeles Mission, both on Skid Row.

Shelter founder and Executive Director Ruth Schwartz said she was thrilled when Fox decided to distribute so many toys through her agency.

“The stuffed animals are cute,” Schwartz said.

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