thedrifter
12-09-06, 05:38 AM
Marines Need Volunteer Santas
Battle-Weary Company Reaches Out For Help In Toys-For-Tots Campaign
By JESSE HAMILTON
Courant Staff Writer
December 9 2006
Giving toys to kids is something Charlie Company has been doing a lot of.
The Marine Corps Reserve unit based in Plainville is only recently back from Iraq, where its members hit the streets of Fallujah several times a week to hand toys out to Iraqi kids. Now, it's the season for Toys for Tots, the Marine Corps annual campaign to collect toys for underprivileged kids back home.
The effort is at its peak right now, and Marines in Charlie Company are responsible for Hartford and towns in the center of Connecticut. But because so many of the Marines who would normally work long hours on this have just returned to their families, organizers are asking for volunteers to help unload and sort incoming toys.
Staff Sgt. Fredy Tellocastillo, regional Toys for Tots coordinator, said, "This is pretty much our crunch time." Toys are starting to flood into the Plainville Marine Reserve center.
The Marines ask volunteers, 15 and older, to drop by the center at 1 Linsley Drive in Plainville between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. starting today. They can continue to drop by every day except for Sundays. Volunteers will need a valid ID to be admitted.
Today is expected to see the biggest single-event haul. Admission for the United Technologies Symphony on Ice at the Hartford Civic Center, which runs from noon to 2 p.m., is an unwrapped toy that goes to the Marines' campaign. Last year, the event brought in about 12,000 toys, Tellocastillo said.
Besides seeking volunteer labor, Tellocastillo is asking for something else: more toys for older kids. The program serves needy families with children up to 17 years old, but the incoming toys are mostly for small children. "When people think of Toys for Tots, they think of toddlers."
Although piles of Elmo dolls, Superman action figures and Bratz dolls are already forming, the toy bins for age groups 12 and older are almost empty, Tellocastillo said. The Marines are also seeing a shortage in toys for infants.
Donated toys must be new and unwrapped.
Tellocastillo said there are 325 drop-off points for toys, and people looking for their nearest one can find a list at www.toysfortots.org. Those with questions about volunteering can e-mail him at fredy.tellocastillo@usmc.mil.
When the collections end Dec. 22, most of the toys are distributed through a United Way program. Tellocastillo said Toys for Tots is a lot of work. But he added, "It's a good cause. At the end, it's all worth it."
The toys are already going out for holiday events. This weekend, a holiday party run by Community Residences Inc., which deals with children in foster care, will see a couple hundred of the toys put in small hands.
"Those Marines are wonderful. They come through for us every year," said Christine Kuckel, a foster-care supervisor who organized the party. Her group serves about 160 foster children. "That's a lot of gifts."
She said the gifts mean a lot to the children. "It just really helps cheer them up."
Contact Jesse Hamilton at jhamilton@courant.com.
Ellie
Battle-Weary Company Reaches Out For Help In Toys-For-Tots Campaign
By JESSE HAMILTON
Courant Staff Writer
December 9 2006
Giving toys to kids is something Charlie Company has been doing a lot of.
The Marine Corps Reserve unit based in Plainville is only recently back from Iraq, where its members hit the streets of Fallujah several times a week to hand toys out to Iraqi kids. Now, it's the season for Toys for Tots, the Marine Corps annual campaign to collect toys for underprivileged kids back home.
The effort is at its peak right now, and Marines in Charlie Company are responsible for Hartford and towns in the center of Connecticut. But because so many of the Marines who would normally work long hours on this have just returned to their families, organizers are asking for volunteers to help unload and sort incoming toys.
Staff Sgt. Fredy Tellocastillo, regional Toys for Tots coordinator, said, "This is pretty much our crunch time." Toys are starting to flood into the Plainville Marine Reserve center.
The Marines ask volunteers, 15 and older, to drop by the center at 1 Linsley Drive in Plainville between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. starting today. They can continue to drop by every day except for Sundays. Volunteers will need a valid ID to be admitted.
Today is expected to see the biggest single-event haul. Admission for the United Technologies Symphony on Ice at the Hartford Civic Center, which runs from noon to 2 p.m., is an unwrapped toy that goes to the Marines' campaign. Last year, the event brought in about 12,000 toys, Tellocastillo said.
Besides seeking volunteer labor, Tellocastillo is asking for something else: more toys for older kids. The program serves needy families with children up to 17 years old, but the incoming toys are mostly for small children. "When people think of Toys for Tots, they think of toddlers."
Although piles of Elmo dolls, Superman action figures and Bratz dolls are already forming, the toy bins for age groups 12 and older are almost empty, Tellocastillo said. The Marines are also seeing a shortage in toys for infants.
Donated toys must be new and unwrapped.
Tellocastillo said there are 325 drop-off points for toys, and people looking for their nearest one can find a list at www.toysfortots.org. Those with questions about volunteering can e-mail him at fredy.tellocastillo@usmc.mil.
When the collections end Dec. 22, most of the toys are distributed through a United Way program. Tellocastillo said Toys for Tots is a lot of work. But he added, "It's a good cause. At the end, it's all worth it."
The toys are already going out for holiday events. This weekend, a holiday party run by Community Residences Inc., which deals with children in foster care, will see a couple hundred of the toys put in small hands.
"Those Marines are wonderful. They come through for us every year," said Christine Kuckel, a foster-care supervisor who organized the party. Her group serves about 160 foster children. "That's a lot of gifts."
She said the gifts mean a lot to the children. "It just really helps cheer them up."
Contact Jesse Hamilton at jhamilton@courant.com.
Ellie