The Toys For Tots program is continuing. Donation boxes will be available through December 2.
Look for donation boxes in a business near you and make your contribution of a new, unwrapped toy that will be shared with families in the community.
The Toys For Tots program has grown tremendously since its inception. Today, Toys For Tots serves more than 800 local communities covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
It all began in December 1947, with a hand-crafted doll.
The wife of Marine reserve Major Bill Hendricks made this doll and asked her husband to deliver it to an organization that would present it to a less fortunate child on Christmas day.
Major Hendricks could find no agency to provide such a service. To help fill that void, Major Hendricks and members of his Los Angeles Marine Reserve unit, collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children of Los Angeles during Christmas 1947.
The seed was planted and Toys For Tots was born. The following year the Marine Corps Reserve adopted the program and collected and distributed toys in 74 communities nationwide.
