Quick Answer: Big Box Storage is partnering with San Diego’s Star 94.1 radio station and Rady Children’s Hospital for the “AJ’s Kids Crane” event, providing portable storage containers to hold over 105,000 donated toys for hospitalized children. Radio host AJ Machado will remain on a scissor lift crane 40 feet in the air until the donation goal is met, with all toys stored safely in Big Box Storage units before being distributed to pediatric patients throughout the year.
Some storage solutions hold furniture during a move. Others keep business inventory dry between seasons. And then there are the ones that hold 105,000 toys for sick kids in San Diego. That last category hits differently.
Big Box Storage is proud to once again be part of something that goes well beyond portable containers and logistics. For the 10th consecutive year, we’re serving as the official storage partner for “AJ’s Kids Crane,” the beloved annual toy drive hosted by Star 94.1 radio and benefiting the young patients at Rady Children’s Hospital.
Here’s what that looks like on the ground, and why this partnership matters beyond the feel-good headline.
What Is AJ’s Kids Crane and Why Does San Diego Show Up Every Year?
AJ’s Kids Crane is not a typical drop-a-box-at-the-mall toy drive. It’s an endurance event built around a simple, powerful idea: AJ Machado, morning radio host and San Diego favorite, climbs onto a scissor lift crane and stays there, 40 feet in the air on an 8-foot by 10-foot platform, until the community donates more than 105,000 new, unwrapped toys.
That’s it. He doesn’t come down until the goal is met.
The first time this event ran, it raised more than the target in eight days. That tells you everything about how San Diego responds when someone puts themselves on the line for children facing serious health challenges.
The toys collected don’t pile up in a gym somewhere and get forgotten. They go directly to pediatric patients at Rady Children’s Hospital, one of the top children’s hospitals in the United States, and are distributed to kids throughout the year, not just during the holiday season. That sustained impact is part of what makes this drive different from a one-week push that disappears by January.
How Big Box Storage Makes the Logistics Work
Here’s the thing most people miss when they see events like this: the storage question.
When you’re collecting more than 100,000 toys over the course of a multi-day public event, you need somewhere to put them that isn’t a tarp in a parking lot. The toys need to stay organized, protected from weather, secure, and ready for transport. That’s where Big Box Storage comes in.
Our portable storage containers are placed on-site at the donation location throughout the event. As toys come in from donors, they’re loaded directly into the containers, keeping everything accounted for and in pristine condition from the moment they’re dropped off. Once AJ reaches his goal and the event wraps up, we transport the storage units back to our secure indoor facility in San Diego, where the toys are held safely until Rady Children’s Hospital needs them.
It’s the kind of behind-the-scenes role that doesn’t make the news but makes everything else possible.
Rita Hurley, representative for Big Box Storage, put it plainly: “While we always love supporting community events, AJ’s Kids Crane holds a special place in our hearts. Knowing that our storage services help bring smiles to children at Rady Children’s Hospital makes it all the more meaningful.”
That’s not marketing language. That’s what it actually feels like when a logistics company gets to be part of a moment that matters.
Why Portable Storage Is the Right Tool for Large-Scale Donation Drives
Most people think of portable storage containers as a moving solution or a construction site staple. And they’re right that those are the core use cases. But the flexibility of containerized storage makes it genuinely useful for high-volume community events in ways that traditional warehouse rentals or box trucks simply aren’t.
With portable storage, the container comes to the event. Donors don’t hand toys to a volunteer who carries them to a van across a parking lot. They walk up, drop off, and move on. The container handles security, weather protection, and organization in one step. When the event is over, the same container moves to a permanent facility without any repackaging or reloading.
For an event the scale of AJ’s Kids Crane, where the toy count climbs by the thousands each day, that operational simplicity isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s essential.
How to Be Part of It
The event kicks off on Friday, November 4th, 2011, in the parking lot of IKEA San Diego at 2149 Fenton Parkway, San Diego, CA 92108. It runs until AJ reaches his goal of more than 105,000 toys, which means the timeline depends entirely on how fast San Diego responds.
Toys must be new and unwrapped. There’s no minimum spend requirement and no specific list. If you’re unsure what to bring, think about what a child between the ages of 3 and 15 would actually want to open on a hard day. That’s the standard.
To get updates, see donation numbers in real time, or learn more about the event, visit Star 94.1’s website. You can also learn more about the storage side of this effort at bigbox.com.
The Bigger Picture for Big Box Storage
Big Box Storage’s involvement in AJ’s Kids Crane reflects something that guides how we operate across San Diego: storage infrastructure is community infrastructure. The same containers that help a family between homes or a business manage seasonal overflow can also be the reason 105,000 toys arrive at a children’s hospital in perfect condition.
We don’t think of those two things as separate. Community partnerships like this one with Rady Children’s Hospital and Star 94.1 are a natural extension of what we already do, scaled toward something bigger than any one move or renovation project.
If you have the chance to donate this year, take it. AJ Machado will be up on that crane, and San Diego has never let him stay up there longer than it had to.