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Local AIDS activist collects Christmas toys for hospitalized kids for third year

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A local AIDS activist and author is getting into the holiday spirit early with a toy drive for local hospitalized children.

The Third Annual "End the Stigma Toy Drive" will be held Saturday, December 7 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

You can drop off new, unwrapped toys at Golden Isles Olive Oil in Saint Simons, Georgia.

Organizer Derek "D-Rek" Canas contracted HIV from a blood transfusion he got as a baby, so he also uses the event to raise awareness about the disease.

The toys collected this year will go to kids being treated at the Southeast Georgia Health Systems Pediatric Ward.

Last year, Canas dropped off more than 200 toys for kids at Wolfson Children's Hospital.

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