Toys4Tots

My father, was a Marine. My parents were both active members of the Marine Corps League, Detachment #236 in Middletown, NY. My parents worked very hard every year organizing the annual Toys for Tots drive in our area. Right after Halloween, he and Mom started decorating huge boxes to take to all the drop off points. Then Dad would go back weekly and pick up all the donated new and used toys and store them until Christmas.

Their local Post Office in Westbrookville, NY, always generated the highest amount of donations, literally hundreds of toys! The giant boxes would be overflowing and Dad would come home with his van packed full of toys for needy children.

One woman from Westbrookville, who always donated, said that she explained to her own children that the giant box of toys was to be given away to children who had no toys. She suggested that they go home and choose some of their toys to put in the box for Santa to give to these children for Christmas. This helped her children understand the importance of giving and donating to causes to help others who are less fortunate.

Mom and Dad arranged for local stores like, Wal-Mart to donate brand new toys & bikes. Every year the drive grew larger with more and more people volunteering their time to the cause. Used bikes were donated and collected throughout the year and the Marine Corps League members would repair them.

The day the toys are distributed from the American Legion Post #151, in Middletown, NY, parents of needy children are given bags to fill with a new toy for each child and as many used toys as they can carry. It's such a rewarding feeling to be able to help hundreds of families in your area.

When my parents passed away, the Marine Corps League acknowledged their dedication to this cause by naming the local toy give-away;

The Lou and Bette Muller Memorial Toy Distribution.

A life-long friend of my father's, Virginia Ashworth, believes that the reason my Dad was so dedicated to this project is because he grew up in a poor family where perhaps there weren't any Christmas presents some years for he and his brothers and sisters. She thinks that he never wanted another child to experience that if he could help it.

Virginia and her family, now all volunteer to organize donations and distribution of the toys and has helped the annual drive grow even larger.

When my Dad was in the hospital, this poster hung in his room. All his fellow Marine Corps League members had signed it with get well wishes. I guess it is true... Once a Marine, Always a Marine.

While you are out shopping for friends and family, please take the time and a few dollars to pick out a toy for a needy child and leave it in a Toys for Tots drop-off box or where any type of collections are being made for children. Making a donation or volunteering your time for a cause is so rewarding, for yourself and those who you are helping.

Goldenbooks has a great holiday site where you collect virtual toys as you travel around their website and then they donate real toys and funds to the Toys for Tots Foundation. It's a fun, easy and cost free way to help.

Rand McNally will donate $1.00 to the Toys for Tots Foundation for visiting their website. Just click on the Santa in the top right hand corner. You can enter your information for a chance to win a Razor Scooter and create a map for Santa from the North Pole to your home. The Rand McNally Foundation is also donating a scooter a day, until Christmas to Toys for Tots.