Jones' Greenville congressional office serves as Toys for Tots collection center

By: Press Release: Kathleen Joyce | WNCT
Published: November 30, 2008

Washington, D.C. – This holiday season, Third District Representative Walter B. Jones has joined with the Greenville Detachment of the Marine Corps League to collect new toys for distribution to needy children by Christmas. Rep. Jones’ Third District office, located in Greenville, will serve as a drop-off point for public donations of unwrapped toys for the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program until December 12th.

“The Marine Corps’ Toys for Tots Program provides a fantastic way for citizens to perform an act of charity during the holiday season by letting a child in need know someone cares,” Congressman Jones said. “I encourage citizens to bring the joy of Christmas to a child by bringing a new toy to the collection box in my office or to any nearby organization helping the Marine Corps Reserves collect toys this season.”

The birth of the Toys for Tots Program dates to 1947 when a group of U.S. Marine Reservists collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children in Los Angeles on Christmas Eve. Because of this pilot campaign’s great success, the U.S. Marine Corps titled it the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program and expanded it nationwide in 1948. Today, Toys for Tots is the Marine Corps’ premier community action program with the primary goal of delivering, through shiny new toys at Christmas, “a message of hope to needy youngsters that will motivate them to grow into responsible, productive, patriotic citizens and community leaders.”

Annual Toys for Tots campaigns are conducted each year throughout the nation during the months of October, November and December. Over the 61 years of the Toys for Tots Program, U.S. Marines have distributed more than 370 million toys to over 170 million needy children. In 2007, Marines distributed gifts to 7.5 million children in over 600 communities nationwide.

Donations of new, unwrapped toys may be dropped off Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at Congressman Jones’ Third District office located at: 1105-C Corporate Drive, Greenville, NC, 27858.

For more information about the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program, please visit: http://www.toysfortots.org/.