Toys For Tots

ORIGIN:
Toys for Tots began in 1947 when Major Bill Hendricks, USMCR and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children. This program has been in continuous operation for 61 years.

MISSION:
The mission of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.

ACTIVITIES:
The principal Toys for Tots activities which take place each year are the collection and distribution of toys in the communities in which a Marine Corps Reserve Unit is located and in communities without a Reserve Unit that has a Marine Corps League Detachment or group of men and women, generally veteran Marines authorized by Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, to conduct a local Toys for Tots campaign. Local Toys for Tots Campaign Coordinators conduct an array of activities throughout the year, which include golf tournaments, foot races, bicycle races and other purely voluntary events designed to increase interest in Toys for Tots, and concurrently generate toy and monetary donations.

The Puget Sound Marine Corps League, Detachment #336 assists the Marine Corps Reserve 4^th LSB (Landing Support Battalion) based in Ft. Lewis, in their Toys For Tots Campaign in King County.

In addition to 4^th LSB’s operations, the Marine Corps League Det. 336 assists in coordinating individual and business toy collection efforts in King County, and provides delivery of collected toys to the Marine Reserve.

The Marine Corps League also accepts cash donations for this effort- all year long, with all collected funds going either to purchasing toys (the majority of funds), or to logistical expenses related to collecting and distributing toys that our volunteers are unable to provide themselves or are not donated by the community (temporary storage rental for collected toys, truck rental to deliver collected toys if necessary, etc.). As an all-volunteer operation, no Toys for Tots funds collected by the MCL go to the MCL, its members, or any other individual. Monetary donations to Toys For Tots are kept in accounts separate from MCL general funds and are expended 100% for toys and possibly for Toys for Tots logistics as described herein.

MCL Det. 336 established a primary Toys For Tots collection center for new, unwrapped toys and Toys for Tots monetary donations at the VFW Post 2995 (4330 148^th Ave NE, Redmond). Other “satellite” locations around King County are established as volunteers are identified to support those collections.