Difference Maker:
TOYS FOR TOTS
Western Central Illinois
“This year has been one of the hardest years of my life financially, and this is the only Christmas my kids will be getting this year & because of you, they can still believe in the magic of Christmas. God bless you.” This was just one of the hundreds of thank you notes written by parents who received Christmas Assistance from Toys for Tots in 2023.
Everyone has probably heard of Toys for Tots, but not many really know the magnitude of the work the volunteers are doing right here in our community or how it really works. While their main objective will always be to serve struggling families at Christmas, there is so much more to this organization!
Toys for Tots was created back in 1947 when the wife of Sgt Bill Hendricks was having trouble finding a place to donate a doll at Christmas in Los Angeles. She asked her husband to take his Marines and deliver toys to children at an area hospital instead. After hearing of this, the Commandant of the Marine Corps Reserves directed all Marine Reserve Sites to implement a TFT campaign, transforming it into a national community action program in 1948. The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation was established in 1991 to help run the program. Walt Disney created the well-known train logo for the first poster for the new organization. Currently, Foundation staff are headquartered in the Cooper Center just outside of the Main Gate of Marine Corps Base, Quantico, VA. Local Chapters have a designated Coordinator in their community, either a Marine, Marine Corps League Detachment Member, or civilian volunteer who is responsible for planning, organizing, and conducting the campaign under the direction of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. One of the things that makes Toys for Tots different is that it is 100% Volunteer-run at the local level. No one who helps at our warehouse, not even the Coordinator, receives any type of monetary payment for what they do. We are there because it’s what we feel called to do. Almost all of us have full-time jobs of our own, and we use evenings, weekends, and vacation time to get the work done. Even the Foundation staff is only paid by the interest from an Endowment Fund set up years ago for that purpose. No donated money, locally or national, goes to paying a salary. Toys for Tots is proud to be a Grade A charity with a 97:3 Average Program to Support Ratio. This means that an average of 97% of your donation is used to actually purchase toys/books/gifts for kids, and only 3% is spent on fundraising or supplies. Another great aspect is that when you donate to Toys for Tots, your donation stays local and goes to spreading hope and joy to kids right here in our community.
Locally, our campaign was started 27 years ago by a group of Marines and their wives. Their dedication to serving kids in our community helped build the foundation for the campaign as you know it today. Many in our community also know Steve Lindsey and his wife, Kringle, who took over as Coordinator in 2011 and impacted families for the following 10 years. In 2022, my husband Rocky and I stepped into the Coordinator role. During this time, the program began to expand its year-round services under the encouragement of LtGen James Laster, President & CEO of the Marine Corps Foundation.
Our year-round services include birthday gifts for foster kids in partnership with Connect Child and Family, a Foster Family Fun Day where the entire family is able to come to have food, play games, ride horses, train rides, face painting, and more, along with a giveaway for each child.
We also have a “Hope Bag” program where families can be nominated for their child to receive a bookbag full of toys, blankets, and books in various situations such as loss of home due to a fire or flood, recent homelessness, death of an immediate family member or other situations. The Toys for Tots Leadership Team is also working on adding additional programs as resources allow. In 2023, Toys for Tots of West Central Illinois served 5,336 kids and distributed a total of 27,410 toys.
So, how is this all accomplished? Fundraising for Toys for Tots begins in early spring with a large Kickoff Event. Next year’s event will be held on March 15, 2025, at The Ambiance. Fundraisers are then held throughout the year, with the busiest season coming during the Christmas Campaign which opens October 1 annually. During October-December, additional fundraisers are held along with Toy Drives. We work with hundreds of businesses and organizations throughout West Central Illinois to place toy donation boxes in businesses so that they can encourage their customers and/or employees to join the toy collection efforts. It truly takes a village to be ready to serve so many kids in our community, and we invite groups to come up with their own ways to raise funds or collect toys to donate as well!
One thing that we are often asked is, “Why do you invest so much of your time in this?”. The answer is easy. Because it’s not “just toys”. When I think back to Christmas as a child, I don’t remember the toys, but I remember the feeling of love and joy on Christmas morning. That’s something that every child deserves to feel. As a parent, there is no greater feeling than when I can put a smile on my child’s face and let them know they are loved. When life hits hard, and finances are tight, not knowing how to make sure that my child doesn’t feel like Santa missed them or doesn’t have to have a grown-up conversation about why Christmas can’t be the same this year is an awful weight to bear. Through Toys for Tots, we can not only make sure that those kids experience the hope and joy of a magical Christmas but that those parents or caregivers also feel the love and support of their community. One of our biggest goals is to make sure that Distribution days are full of smiles, laughter, and joy. We work hard to fill the warehouse with the sounds of Christmas music, and we serve cocoa and cookies. We want the parents/caregivers to know they are welcome and supported there. The fun part about our distribution is that parents are able to come to the warehouse and “shop” the shelves for their kid’s toys rather than just receive something picked out by someone else. The parents check in at registration, and then a volunteer walks them around the shelves with a shopping cart so that they can pick out the assigned number of toys, books, games, and stocking stuffers. This is always such a heartwarming experience for both the parents and the volunteers.
In addition to toys, Toys for Tots of West Central Illinois has always partnered with another organization to provide holiday meal boxes to all recipients. At the beginning of 2024, a group of core volunteers got together to discuss how we could make changes to ensure that every family who signed up got a box, and none fell through the cracks due to numbers or county. Around the same time, we learned more about Veteran Food insecurity in our community, and soon after, we came up with the idea for “Served with Love,” a new nonprofit organization that will provide food boxes to both veterans and families who receive assistance from Toys for Tots as a Veteran Governed Assistance program. We expect to distribute 1300 food boxes in 2024 and grow services from there.
As we continue to grow our services, we are also looking into plans for a permanent home. Toys for Tots is blessed to be allowed to utilize space at the Quincy Development Center currently, but dreams of someday having a permanent space where we can make changes, have forklifts for large shipments and running water. It takes around 30,000 sq ft to run the operation that we do, so this will be no small feat. This is where our community comes in. With the generosity of individual community members, businesses, and organizations, we are able to continue growing and spreading hope and joy on even larger levels.
“Just walking in & seeing all of the donations and smiling faces of volunteers has brought me to tears. Being a single mom has its challenges & you all have made things a little easier this year. So thank you times a million.”
-2023 Christmas Recipient
“The difference you all have made in my family is beautiful. Your hearts are bigger than what I remember as a child myself. So in being there for families you have given happiness! May God bless you all!” -2023 Christmas Recipient
Marine Corps Toys for Tots: A year-round force for good. Because children’s needs aren’t seasonal and neither are we.
To learn more about Toys for Tots of West Central Illinois and how you can help, visit our Facebook Page “Toys for Tots of West Central Illinois” or our Volunteer Group “Toys for Tots WCIL – Volunteers”
Donate Online at:
https://westcentral-il.toysfortots.org
Or by mail:
436 S 6th, Suite 200
Quincy, IL 62301
Contact Information:
westcentral-il@toysfortots.org
217.440.2278