The story begins in Los Angeles, in 1947, with a Raggedy Ann doll. A woman stitched her up and handed her to her husband, a Major in the United States Marine Corps, to be passed along to a child in need. They quickly discovered there wasn’t a good way to get toys to children that needed them, so they decided to address the problem. That year they collected 5,000 toys and set out to put them into the deserving hands of children.
Today, Toys for Tots (TFT) serves over 800 communities across the country. They are usually operated by the Marine Corps Reserve, but in areas like Bellingham that don’t have a unit, the local Marine Corps League — a lot like a fraternal organization — can petition the Toys for Tots Foundation at their headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, to host a program. That’s how the Whatcom County campaign was established in 2006, and it’s been collecting goodies every year since.
The Local Connection
In 2010, Wes Weston retired in Bellingham after spending 28 years in the Marine Corps, and became a route driver for the TFT campaign. When the man in charge needed to step aside, Weston agreed to take over on a temporary basis — and seven years later, he’s still leading the charge. His wife, Teresa, has brought her considerable accounting and business skills to make the effort as effective as possible, and every year they’re joined by a team of long-time volunteers and newcomers alike.
It all starts in October, when 100 of the iconic white cardboard boxes with the red logo are placed around Whatcom County to receive donations from the public. Conversations also begin with all of the local school districts, area tribes, churches, and social services agencies (26 of them this year), and each group is invited to send a report of the number of children they serve.
Making A List, Checking It Twice
As the toys roll in, they are arranged on shelves, split into groups for boys and girls, and separated by age range. When the public donates toys, they often think of “tots” as between the ages of four and eight, and bring in gifts appropriate for kids that age. But TFT serves kids from birth until they are 18, so cash donations are handed over to volunteer shoppers who head to local stores to fill out the inventory.
Picking from the shelves in a workspace that has been donated to the program, volunteers pick out two toys and one stocking stuffer for each child, and send them along to the another group of volunteers who double-check the number of toys and their age level. Then they’re boxed up for delivery or pick-up.
It Takes A Team To Pull A Sleigh
The Toys for Tots shoppers receive assistance from a number of local sources, including toy and game store Launching Success and holiday lovers Yeager’s, steering them towards the latest trends and suggesting an array of gifts to satisfy a variety of tastes. They also meet with other local do-gooders, such as an anonymous man who has given an astounding 500 carved wooden toys this year.
Every year Les Schwab shows up with a stake-bed truck piled high with their signature bright yellow bags stuffed full of donations, and a couple of motorcycle clubs come through, as well. One year, the Rainier Ridge Rams fired up their 4×4 trucks, and got the toys safely through a heavy snowfall. And across the region, Haggen stores allow shoppers to make donations at their cash registers, bringing in a level of donations that allow a number of TFT operations to continue.
A Family That Serves Families
Kaila Cove recently graduated from UCLA, and has been spending the holidays with Toys for Tots for a number of years. “I was into volunteering from a young age,” she says. “When I was in high school I saw a poster looking for volunteers, and that’s how I met the whole team. It’s a really great community, and a family-like environment.”
As Weston explains each part of the program, he can’t help but echo that sentiment. “I work with my wife, and then these incredible volunteers. We have a cadre of seasonal volunteers that have been doing this for 10 years or more, and we’re able to bring in new volunteers, as well,” he says. “It’s very efficient and joyful, and it just runs like clockwork.”
“Efficient” might seem like a strange word to use for a toy charity, but Weston points out that, as they distribute over 11,000 toys to nearly 3,500 children, a full 97% of the cash donations they receive go toward buying toys. With numbers like that, they are happy to invite the public to their website, where families can find out how to be included in the future, make a donation, or become a location that allows the public to drop off toys.
