Fareway accepts Toys for Tots

    Fareway Stores Inc. in Washington is participating in this year?s Toys for Tots drive. Interested residents can bring unopened toys to Fareway beginning Friday. Fareway has its own float in the Lighted Holiday Parade Friday night ? a trailer that is in the shape of a giant sleigh. People may drop off toys in the sleigh at the holiday parade, which begins at 6:30 p.m. at the high school.

    Toys for Tots is a program run by the Marine Corps. According to the program?s Web site, its mission is to collect unwrapped toys and distribute them to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted. Fareway manager Dave Waite said the toys collected at his store will go to children in Iowa. He said the Marine Corps is responsible for distributing the toys. Fareway serves as one of the drop-off points for the toys.

    Waite estimated that Fareway has been involved in the program for two decades. He said the store collects a couple hundred toys every year. The toys come in all kinds and are for all age groups, from babies to teenagers.

    The last day toys can be dropped off at Fareway is Dec. 24. Waite said the toys are usually distributed before that time, and that any toys received after distribution are given to children the following Christmas.

    ?It?s a great program,? said Waite. ?There is a lot of need out there, and probably more need this year than ever. We just ask people that you give what you can.?

    Toys for Tots began in 1947 when a group of Marine reservists in Los Angeles distributed about 5,000 toys to needy children. Major Bill Hendricks was the one who started the program, and according to the organization?s Web site, he got the idea from his wife Diane. She crafted a homemade doll and asked her husband to deliver it to disadvantaged kids at Christmas. Bill learned that no such agency existed, and decided to start one himself. The Toys for Tots program was adopted by the Marine Corps one year later, and since its inception it has delivered 400 million toys to 188 million kids.

For more, see our Nov. 24 print edition.