CHICAGO, December 20, 2011 - The WGN Morning News Drive-Thru Toy Drive celebrated its 9th year; its second tied to Jennifer Hudson. This four-hour event featured carolers, Santa, holiday fun, and an appearance by Jennifer Hudson.

Viewers and companies drove thru to drop off a record sum of toys …over 25,000! To cap off the event, AT&T made a surprise announcement to Jennifer Hudson herself - A generous donation of $10,000 to her Foundation.

All toys were donated to Jennifer Hudson's Julian D. King Gift Foundation and will be dispersed to children at Drake Elementary School, 2772 S. King Drive between 10-4pm on Christmas Eve. (Proof of low income must be provided; ie: medical card). Any questions can be sent to: juliandkinggiftfoundation@yahoo.com

This year, WGN held four satellite toy drives prior to today's event. Viewers who dropped off new unwrapped toys to the following toy drop-off locations, received the following special offers: Navy Pier IMAX ¿a voucher for Free Child Admission to see “Happy Feet 2” with purchase of an Adult Ticket; ABT Electronics in Glenview, IL ¿a $20 Abt Gift Card, with new unwrapped toy; Hollywood Palms in Naperville and Hollywood Boulevard in Woodridge, IL ¿a Free Movie Pass good for two people at any Hollywood Blvd location; The Hair Cuttery the first 100 people received a coupon for a free shampoo, hair-cut, and blow dry. Feldco Windows, Siding and Doors gave away $100 Feldco giftcards. Life Storage, self storage superstore, was the official storage facility for all donations collected and they generously transported the toys to the toy disbursement site.

Jennifer Hudson's Julian D. King Gift Foundation is named in honor of the singer-actress's deceased nephew Julian King. The specific purpose of the Foundation is to help provide holiday toys to needy children in Chicago.

WGN-TV is Chicago's CW network affiliate, programming a strong schedule of news, sports and entertainment, with most WGN Sports telecasts, WGN News and CW programs in high definition on WGN 9.1. WGN-TV programs more news than any other Chicago TV station for WGN-TV and cable news channel CLTV in Chicago; Rockford, IL; and South Bend, IN. WGN 9.2 is Chicago's home of Tribune Broadcasting's classic TV network, Antenna TV. WGN also programs for WGN America on cable, telco and satellite throughout the U.S. WGN-TV is a Tribune Broadcasting station. For additional information on Chicago's Very Own WGN-TV, go to WGNtv.com