Toys For Tots needs storage space

Halloween is next week, Thanksgiving is next month, and before you know it, Christmas will be here. No one knows how the time will fly between then and now more than USMC retired Col. Ken Crowell, who heads up the area's Toys for Tots campaign. U.S. Marines work with local firefighters to collect new toys to give to underprivileged children who might not otherwise have Christmas presents, but before the toy drive has even begun, the organizers need some help.

"We need a place to store the toys," said Crowell.

Because there are usually many toys given, including bicycles, the storage space needs to be large.

Then, as soon as the storage facility is secure, the Marines and firefighters will need more help -- filling it.

"We're really scared this year," he said. "The economy is so bad, I don't know how much we are going to get and we can only give out what we receive."

Major donors in the past have been slow to respond this year, he said, not only in providing toys, but in providing drop-off locations for the toys.

"It's not coming together like it has in the past," he said.

In the past, firefighters would repair broken or old toys that had been donated, but these days, because of liability issues, the gifts must be new, in their original packaging, and unwrapped. Firefighters joined forces with the Marines, who have been operating Toys for Tots since 1947.

Toys for Tots began in 1947 when Maj. Bill Hendricks of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and a group of Marine reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children. The 1947 pilot project was so successful the Marine Corps adopted Toys for Tots in 1948 and expanded it into a nationwide campaign. That campaign, also shifted to giving new toys.

"Distributing 'hand-me-down' toys does not send the message Marines want to send to needy children," states the official web site at toysfortots.org. "The goal is to deliver a message of hope, which will build self-esteem and, in turn, motivate needy children to grow into responsible, productive, patriotic citizens and community leaders. A shiny new toy is the best means of accomplishing this goal."

The official toy drive begins the second week in November. Anyone with space to offer for toy storage can contact Mary Reeves at 684-1200, ext. 215, or mreeves@t-g.com.