The U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program collects new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December of each year. They then present those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children of the community. Each community provides toys for their own local children and the foundation adds support where needed.
History of Toys for Tots
In 1947, Diane Hendricks, wife of Major Bill Hendricks, USCR made a homemade doll and asked her husband to deliver the doll to a local organization that would give it to a needy child in the area. After much searching, Major Hendricks realized that there was no such organization. Diane encouraged him to start one with the help of a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles. That first year they collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children. The next year, Walt Disney agreed to design the logo and the first poster that was used to promote the nationwide campaign.
Marine Toys for Tots Foundation
In August of 1991, the Secretary of Defense recognized that the program was growing at an incredible rate and authorized the Marine Corps to work with a charity committed to this cause. In September 1991, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation was founded. This organization has been fund raising and supporting the program ever since.
The program's main activity is their yearly toy drive during the months of October, November and December. These are done at the community level in areas in which a Marine Corps Reserve Unit is located. For those areas without a Reserve Unit, campaigns can be conducted by groups of citizens, usually veteran Marines that are authorized by Marine Toys for Tots Foundation to conduct a neighborhood campaign.
Toys for Tots Toy Collection Events
Toy drives are usually arranged in conjunction with golf tournaments, bicycle races, motorcycle rides, and other events designed to involve the community and to bring attention to the program, hoping to draw in toys and donations.
According to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation website, "From 1991 – 2008, the Foundation supplemented local toy collections with 81.3 million toys valued at $487 million. Concurrently, the Foundation provided over $6.3 million worth of promotion and support materials, which enable local Toys for Tots Coordinators to conduct more effective local campaigns."
Toys for Tots Literacy Campaign
The Toys for Tots Foundation states that nearly 14 million children live in poverty. The foundation believes that giving the gift of a book to a child can provide them with the tools they need to break the poverty cycle. Much like the Toys for Tots program, the Foundation collects money and book donations from the community to buy and pass along books for children to encourage them to learn to read. They claim that 100 percent of each donation goes to support community literacy programs.
Native American Toys for Tots Program
For over 31 years, the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Native American Program has delivered toys and books to Native American Reservations. As of Christmas 2010, toys will be distributed to Navajo, Ramah Navajo, Hopi, White Mountain Apache, San Carlos Apache, Hualapai, Pascua Yaqui, Zuni, Tohono O’odham, Colorado River Indian Tribes, and other Native American children on their reservations. According to the program, the children who will be provided with toys under this campaign are some of the most underprivileged children in our country, most living on Reservations in deficient housing with no plumbing, sewer, or septic.
How to Donate
See the Toys for Tots donation website to donate online, in memory or tribute to someone special, by mail, via Paypal or eBay or check the community locations page for Toys for Toys programs in your neighborhood. You can also donate to the Holiday Recognition program or the Native American Program through this site.
Alternately, checks can be mailed to:
Marine Toys for Tots Foundation
18251 Quantico Gateway Drive
Triangle, VA 22172
Make checks payable to: Marine Toys for Tots Foundation
If you would like to be kept informed of news and updates to the Toys for Tots program throughout the year, sign up for free on the website.
If you know child that would benefit from receive a gift from the Toys for Tots Program, contact a local Reserve Unit and learn How to Sign up for Toys for Tots Christmas Gifts for the Needy.
Robin Lewis - A Graphic Designer by day, artist, writer, gardener and researcher by night, Robin "Bodecoa" is eclectic, artistic and on an endless ...
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