The Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots Program, has been delivering a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters since 1947. VFW Post 6964 gladly partners with the United States Marine Corps Reserve and the Marine Corps League, each year. The Toys for Tots program provides our Post with a collection box, usually in place by the middle of November, to collect items for our local families and children in need. Share with us and others how the Marine Toys for Tots Program has delivered Christmas to you and others in your community so we can help even more children this Christmas.
Since its inception 72 years ago, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program has distributed
more than 313 million toys to 151 million children. In addition, the Marine
Toys for Tots Foundation has supplemented the collection of local campaigns over
a 13-year life, providing more than 47.4 million toys valued at $243 million,
plus promotion and support materials valued at $2.5 million.
Toys for Tots began in
1947 when Major Bill Hendricks, USMCR, and a group of Marine Reservists in Los
Angles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children. The idea came
from Bill’s wife, Diane. In the fall of 1947, Diane handcrafted a Raggedy
Ann doll and asked Bill to deliver the doll to an organization, which would
give it to a needy child at Christmas. When Bill determined that no agency
existed, Diane told Bill that he should start one. He did.
The 1947 campaign was so
successful that the Marine Corps adopted Toys for Tots in 1948 and expanded it
into a nationwide campaign. That year, Marine Corps Reserve units across the
nation conducted Toys for Tots campaigns in each community in which a Marine
Reserve Center was located.
Marines have conducted
successful nationwide campaigns at Christmas each year since 1948. The initial
objective that remains the hallmark of the program today is to "bring the
joy of Christmas to America’s needy children”.
Bill Hendricks, a Marine
Reservists on weekends, was, in civilian life, the director of public relations
for Warner Brothers Studio. This enabled him to convince a vast array of
celebrities to support Toys for Tots. In 1948, Walt Disney designed the Toys
for Tots logo, which the organization still uses today. Disney also designed
the first Toys for Tots poster used to promote the nationwide program.
Celebrities to help
support the program over the years include Nat "King” Cole, Peggy Lee, Vic
Damone, Bob Hope, John Wayne, Doris Day, Lorrie Morgan, Tim Allen, Kenny
Rogers, Billy Ray Cyrus and many more.
The 2003 Toys for Tots campaign was the most successful campaign in the 56-year history of the program. Marines distributed 15 million toys to 6.5 million needy children. Local campaigns were conducted in 456 communities covering all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, the most extensive coverage ever.
For more information for Toys for Tots, visit www.toysfortots.org.
