Radio host Chet Buchanan checks messages on his phone during the KLUC 98.5-FM toy drive in the NV Energy parking lot Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021. During the 12-day drive, Buchanan lives and broadcasts from atop the platform.
Thursday, Dec. 9, 2021 | 2 a.m.
Chet Buchanan is a man of many hats in Las Vegas.
On top of hosting his namesake morning show on 98.5 KLUC-FM, he also emcees for the Las Vegas Aces and UNLV athletics. And, for 12 days each December, Buchanan has been wearing a knit hat, to keep his head warm while he lives atop a 30-foot tall scaffold.
It’s become a tradition synonymous with Christmas for many Las Vegans — and it’s all to raise awareness for the station’s annual toy drive, now in its 23rd year. Buchanan has been involved for all but two years (to take a job in Portland, Ore., before returning in 2004), and this season’s excursion is shaping up to be a special one.
“It’s just cool to see how the community comes together,” Buchanan said. “And it’s a cool thing to see from this angle. Because, not only is this thing unique, I have a unique perspective on it.”
Literally.
The KLUC Toy Drive started Dec. 2 and runs through 10 a.m. Monday, but it has already collected more than 2,500 bicycles and $150,000 in cash or gift card donations. All proceeds benefit Help of Southern Nevada, a nonprofit that assists families and individuals “overcome barriers and attain self-sufficiency,” according to its website.
“You have people come with one toy or people who come with trucks full of toys,” said Dan Schwartz, who has been volunteering at the toy drive for the last 15 years, and is also Buchanan’s neighbor.
“And that’s the amazing thing, in my opinion: he’s able to get that guy with his kids to come down and donate a toy. And, at the same time, he’ll get a business to come get the truck of 50 bikes, 100 bikes, 500 bikes or whatever.”
The catch is that Buchanan doesn’t get down from the scaffold until the 12 days of the toy drive are up. And it’s gotten easier compared to the early years of the event, Buchanan admits. Over time, he’s replaced his old Coleman camping tent with a futuristic-looking tent called the ShiftPod, which reflects hot air during the day and retains warmth when it gets cold.
Throw in a TV with digital bunny ears and a Kureig for good measure, and Buchanan has a living space fit for a king — well, maybe the king of radio. There’s also an occasional care package of fresh food from his wife, Amy.
“I just make sure he has everything he needs,” Amy said. “We’re in constant contact.”
By Buchanan’s own estimates, he’s spent more than eight months of his life perched outside for toy drive through the years. The event was first staged in 1999 and 2000 at Boulevard Mall before moving to CompUSA for six years. But since 2006, it’s been held at the NV Energy campus on Sahara Avenue, just west of Jones Boulevard.
Buchanan, who has sat on the Help of Southern Nevada board of trustees since 2014, said the toy drive benefited roughly 3,500 families and about 10,000-12,000 children each year. Any toys or gift cards not used by the nonprofit are donated to other charities, civic organizations and churches.
“Chet does this out of the purest part of his heart,” said Abby Quinn, community relations officer with Help of Southern Nevada. “He is the face of the toy drive, and he is the voice of the toy drive. If you listen to him, you can just hear the passion he has for this. And, without that, there would be a lot of groups and a lot of people that wouldn’t have come down for it.”
Donated bicycles line the front of a platform set up in the NV Energy parking lot Tuesday, Dec. 7, 2021, during the 23rd annual 98.5 KLUC-FM Toy Drive.
In 2019, the toy drive netted a record 9,540 bikes, $603,326 in cash and gift cards, and enough toys to fill 41 Coca-Cola tractor-trailers, Buchanan said. Even last year — when donors could only drop off their spoils in a drive-thru line — the drive collected 6,533 bikes and more than $516,170.
“It really hit me, just how much I had missed seeing people at toy drive,” Buchanan said, “and just seeing the looks on their faces, and how much they love it.”
Kelly Borelli, of Las Vegas, stopped by to drop off some board games and other goodies Tuesday night. She said it was important to give-year round, but she always tried to give back during the holidays.
“No kid should have to wake up in the morning without something under the Christmas tree,” Borelli said. “Santa Claus doesn’t forget about anybody.”
Fellow Las Vegan Brian Sitter, who operates the Vegas Elite basketball club, a series of local travel teams, said he corralled many of his players’ families to donate in memory of Mike Buchanan, one of the program’s coaches who died unexpectedly last month.
“To be able to get our kids to give is pretty good,” Sitter said. “Anybody who’s ever been down and had an opportunity to receive help, you would find that they’re always the ones that are giving the most when they have the opportunity.”
There’s never a set goal for how much Buchanan wants to raise in a given year. But to take a page from the playbook of Jerry Lewis, a personal hero of Buchanan’s and the icon of Muscular Dystrophy Association Labor Day Telethon: he’s always looking for one more donation.
“You know how he always did ‘one more dollar?’ Well, we do one more toy, one more bike, one more gift card.”
For Buchanan, one of the most rewarding parts of doing this for so long has been seeing people come back after being on the receiving end of the gift giving to donate toys of their own. And whether someone is able to donate thousands of dollars in goods, or just a single toy, the fact that person cares enough to come out shows how tightly-knit this community is, Buchanan said.
“I would never have believed that this would become like people’s holiday tradition,” Buchanan said. “I would have never dreamed of that. And the fact that it’s so meaningful to so many people, it’s so unbelievably rewarding. And that’s the amazing part about toy drive. I get to, for 12 days, get to literally show the world what an amazing community this is and how it’s so much more than just those three and a half miles of the Las Vegas Strip.”
Those looking for help this holiday season can complete the Help of Southern Nevada’s online pre-registration form at www.helpsonv.org/holiday-programs. The deadline to submit a form is noon today.
