AKRON, Ohio — For the last eight years, Bobby Ina has been doing epic shopping sprees and bringing his friends and family along to help. 

What You Need To Know

  • A Northeast Ohio man donates around $12k worth of toys to Akron Children’s Hospital every year

  • Bobby Ina has been doing this for eight years 

  • He has found a way to make sure this tradition will continue for many years to come

“We are going to spend about $12,000 in toys for Akron Children’s Hospital,” Ina said. “To make sure that every child at the hospital gets a toy for Christmas.”

He started this tradition as a way to give back to children spending the holidays in the hospital. 

“If we can bring some smiles to people's faces, that’s really what it is all about,” he said. “It is the most innocent thing in the world; is watching a child laugh or smile.” 

The holiday tradition is something that the kids look forward to all year long, said Katie Fleck, a child life specialist at Akron Children’s Hospital. 

“We have repeat kids get really excited about it too,” Fleck said. “They are not wanting to go home before Christmas because they know how special we make it at the hospital.” 

This year's shopping trip is dedicated to Ina’s cousin’s daughter, Savannah Rose, who passed away in May at just 14 months old. 

“My cousin and her husband had to go through that basically at the height of the pandemic, basically living at the hospital,” Ina said.  “My family has never had to experience that before.”

The baby’s mother, Jennifer Adamczyk, helped pick out some of the toys that will be donated this year. 

“We know what it is like to live in the hospital during the holiday season,” Adamczyk said. “How special it was to get gifts and have a bit of normalcy during all of the chaos.” 

Ina has made sure that the kids staying at Akron Children’s hospital will always have a present for the holidays. 

“I created a foundation that is fully funded through life insurance and all of the money is solely designed to make children smile,” he said. “There will never be a time at Akron Children’s Hospital for all of eternity where they can’t afford gifts.”