Toys For Tots

At the Lamorinda Republican Women’s November General Meeting yesterday, members donated to the US Marine Corps’ Toys For Tots program. Collecting the toys were US Marine GST Victor Runsewe and US Navy PO Anderson.

Toys for Tots began as a Los Angeles charitable effort in 1947. Major Bill Hendricks, USMCR, was inspired by his wife Diane when she tried to donate a homemade Raggedy Ann doll to a needy child but could not find any organization to do so. At her suggestion, he gathered a group of local Marine reservists who coordinated and collected some 5,000 toys for local children that year from collection bins placed outside Warner Bros. movie theaters. In 1980, only new toys were accepted, as reservists were no longer able to dedicate drill hours to refurbishing toys, as well as legal concerns, to prevent the accidental giving of recalled items. In 1991, the Secretary of Defense authorized the creation and affiliation with the nonprofit charity foundation. In 1995, the Secretary of Defense approved Toys for Tots as an official mission of the Marine Corps Reserve.