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thedrifter
02-11-06, 09:43 AM
naplesnews.com
Children thank Marines for toy drive

By Tracy X. Miguel

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Perhaps the children at Immokalee Child Care Center wouldn't have holiday gifts to unwrap if it weren't for devoted veterans.

For the past five years, Naples Marine Corps League's annual Toys for Tots drive has provided toys for children at the Immokalee Child Care Center, a nonprofit center which serves 100 children who mostly live in poverty, ranging in age from 4 weeks to 5 years old.

To show their appreciation, the Marine Corps was invited to the school for a tour of the facility, a musical presentation by the kids and lunch on Friday.

Among 13 pre-kindergartners, Levi Bell and Damean Castillo, both 5, walked around the tables at the multi-purpose room singing.

Watching the children and listening to them sing put smiles on the faces of Marine veterans Sid Vanornan, Bob Kearns, Andy Stewart, Jerry Bray, Tony Caliendo, Nick Marsit and several of their wives.

Friday was the first time the veterans visited the center.

"Now we know where the toys go and we know what they could use more of," said Marsit, coordinator of the toy drive.

After the singing, David Agin, president of center, presented a plaque to Marsit, of the Marine Corps League ET Brisson Detachment of Naples, in recognition of the Corps' support for five years.

"My name, they used, but it is all of us," Marsit, 67, told the crowd. He served in the Marine Crops from 1956 to 1962.

Last year, the group collected about 25,000 toys. The goal for this year is 30,000, Kearns said.

Child Care Center executive director Valarie Bostic said each year the children's parents are grateful because some cannot afford Christmas gifts.

"First they (Marine Corps) fight for our country and they are still helping the country," she said.

In 1964, the Church Women of Collier County opened the Immokalee Child Care Center in a building that formerly was an open-air wash-house where people did laundry and showered.

Ellie