BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
CRESCENT SPRINGS - A last-day surge helped pupils at St. Joseph School exceed their weeklong goal of collecting 1,000 violent toys.
On Friday, pupils brought in 424 toys, for a total of 1,229 action figures, play weapons, video games and violent comic books.
"I hope this raises awareness, and makes people realize that there are lots of fun ways to play that don't involve violence," said Dr. Janice Wilkerson, the school psychologist and organizer of the toy drive. "There are lots of neat, creative toys out there. We just need to make families aware of them."
St. Joseph's haul makes it the largest single participant in this year's national violent-toy turn-in campaign, said Daphne White, executive director of the Lion & Lamb Project in Bethesda, Md. Ms. White started the national toy turn-in campaign during the 1997 holiday season, after reading studies that showed make-believe violence could trigger real-world aggression.
"Why give children violent toys during a season of peace?" Ms. White asked. "Because of all the school shootings that happened last year, we felt it was especially important to do this. We wanted to remind families and communities that violence is not child's play."
The toys turned in at St. Joseph's will be displayed for a few days on a Christmas tree in the school lobby, before being carted off to an undisclosed trash bin, Dr. Wilkerson said.
St. Joseph parent Peg Landwehr said her son, David, 11, and daughter, Kathleen, 9, turned in six toys, including action figures and a plastic sword.
"After we talked about the drive, they said things like, 'I hope it's not too violent, but I really want this toy for Christmas,' " Mrs. Landwehr said.
As a reward to St. Joseph's pupils for meeting their goal, Principal Judy Hoferkamp will dress as a surprise character on Dec. 21, Dr. Wilkerson said.
