Experienced by Adrian McQueen
Photos by Adrenaline Lifestyles
The Holiday season is back upon us and we returned with the Ward 5 Community Toy Drive and Car Show. The owners and staff of Metrobar welcomed us back with open arms. Metrobar, located in NE Washington DC at the Bryant Street development, is a widely popular venue that allows us the opportunity to have an impact on the community in a safe environment.
Metrobar features intimate and life-sized art installations, from the railcar itself to murals, stage, screens, and other programmable segments. The mission of Metrobar is to connect people with DC culture through entertaining, collaborative, arts-driven, and authentic experiences.
Paul Winestock, owner of “Fun It Up” and “His & Hers”, helped to pull together donations as well as friends and family to support this community effort. Tanya Whitaker, owner of STAT DC Global Solutions, brought out a truckload full of groceries and toys to make sure the growing demand was met. Both Paul and Tanya are great partners to have in this effort as we share the same commitment in nurturing, developing and inspiring underserved communities.
All were welcomed and no one was turned around as there were enough gifts for everyone. The Elite Bandits and friends pulled up and showcased their luxury vehicles alongside the Black Jeepers of the DMV with their custom Jeeps to make for an exciting car show.
We had a lot of youth volunteers that coordinated the toy distribution and kept the line organized so that all families would have time and space to pick out the gifts that they wanted. Families showed up in droves to receive toys, take pictures with the vehicles and just have a good time.
Thanks to the generosity and philanthropic nature of the good people at Honda, we were provided a 2025 Honda Pilot Black Edition to assist in delivering toys and supplies to the toy drive location, as well as deliver groceries to the neighboring senior living buildings for those that could not make it out to the event. The Pilot features 18.6 cubic feet behind the third-row seat, 48.5 cubic feet with the third row folded and 87.0 cubic feet behind the front seats. For a family hauler turned into a delivery truck, it served us well.
Driving the vehicle around was a pleasure and it came complete with enough compartments to house our checklists, laptop, bags and phones.
The Toy Drive would not be possible without the support of our partners and sponsors. Thank you to Metro Bar, Premium Parking, Bryant Street, S.O.N.G., STAT DC, Throttle Life, Elite Bandits, and Divaz Inc.
I always say, “As blessed as we are, it is our duty to give back to those that are less fortunate.” I will continue to live by the motto and move forward with uplifting the communities around me. Stay tuned as we continue reaching out to families and communities in need of assistance. I have taken great pleasure curating this movement and watching it grow each and every year. Enjoy the photo gallery.
