In 2013, the local Marine Corps Reserve Training Center closed because of Federal government budget cuts. At that time all training for local Marine Corps Reservists was transferred out of this area to Buffalo, Syracuse and Erie, Pennsylvania. This left a huge area without Toys For Tots support. This includes Monroe, and all surrounding counties. At that time the Marine Corps Coordinating Council of Greater Rochester and the Marine Corps League Auxiliary took on the task of Toys For Tots for this area. The group consists of veteran Marines and their spouses, families and friends.
In 2013, they collected over 7,300 toys, which were distributed to over 3,000 children. They program has grown each year, and in 2017 over 52,000 toys were collected and distributed to over 20,000 children. Toy collection and distribution is done through a lot of volunteer hours and the cooperation of many local schools, churches, volunteer groups and huge support from the Salvation Army.
2017 was extremely successful for Toys For Tots, but it did not end in a completely positive note. The national toy store Toys R Us closed its doors forever. They were a national sponsor for Tots For Tots, contributing a large quantity of toys each year. Toy demands and requests are growing each year. The challenge is to close this gap of toy loss from Toys R Us.
There are several ways that community members, businesses and organizations can help.
•Work with Toys For Tots to drop-off collection boxes in your local zip code area. You can also assist in toy collection when the collection time ends, again in your zip code area.
•Assist in sorting, labeling and grouping toys for the different organizations which Toys for Tots provides toys to after toy collection is complete.
•Events are popular with local businesses, organizations and groups who set aside one day each year to collect toys for Toys For Tots at their workplace, restaurant or holiday venues. You can also have toy collection boxes placed at your business location. Help with toy collection is needed in November and early December.
•Join the Toys For Tots committee of volunteers who just want to help kids with sharing and caring. No one is paid to do this and no one is on a Toys For Tots payroll.
To help Toys for Tots, visit rochester-ny.toysfortots.org/ and fill out a volunteer request for all of the things previously mentioned. Call Jason at 585-355-8586 to get additional information or to see what is available in your area, or call Frank at 585-455-5221 if you would like to work with box distribution and collection, event participation and/or toy handling and distribution.
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