thedrifter
03-19-09, 09:04 AM
Brent Batten: Marines seek to establish toy foothold
By BRENT BATTEN
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
NAPLES — As the holiday season fades into the rear view mirror, the Naples branch of the Marine Corps League looks ahead to see looming ... the holiday season.
Christmas is bearing down especially fast on the former Marines because the detachment is still without warehouse space for its annual Toys for Tots drive.
The group has been using space in North Naples donated by Ave Maria University for the past few years but the school has reclaimed the building, leaving the Marines nowhere to go next season.
Mike Trephan, the public relations coordinator for the E.T. Brissom Detachment of the Marine Corps League in Collier County, renewed the plea for space at the group’s annual Honor the Free Press luncheon Wednesday. He dropped a none-too-subtle hint to a contingent from the Naples Daily News that the paper’s soon-to-be vacated property on Central Avenue would make an ideal site, provided it’s still available.
Trephan says the program may end in Naples if a new home isn’t found. “Absent a storage and distribution facility, this nationwide Christmas giving program, having prospered for 60 years, may cease to have a presence in our community.”
Post Commandant Nick Marsit said the group needs 5,000 square feet of space under air. Nearby parking is a plus. “There’s only one day when parking matters. That’s the day parents come to pick up the toys,” Marsit said. If need be, the volunteers could shuttle parents from available parking to the donated warehouse, he said.
Last year, Toys for Tots provided gifts for children from about 1,900 families, Marsit said. He expects the number to grow this year. “I would say it’s definitely going to increase unless there’s a huge turnaround in the economy,” he said.
Right now, the tables, donation boxes and other accouterments that make up the Toys for Tots program are housed in a donated storage locker.
The need for space will increase exponentially in October. That’s when the national chapter will begin sending toys for local distribution. Soon thereafter, donation boxes placed at businesses and country clubs will fill up, with volunteers bringing the toys to the central facility to prepare for distribution. Right after Thanksgiving, the group’s booth at the Coastland Center mall will go up, bringing in even more toys.
Naples is one of about 500 communities in the nation with a local Toys for Tots program.
Nationally, the Marines have donated toys to more than 175 million children in the program’s 60 years of existence.
The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is an Internal Revenue Service-recognized 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity. The mission statement of Toys for Tots is simple. “Bring the joy of Christmas to America’s needy children.”
For more information or to donate space contact Marsit at 821-2804.
Trephan told the luncheon crowd the volunteers’ work pays off at Christmas.
“If you don’t think it is worthwhile, you should come down (to the warehouse) on the day we give out the gifts.”
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E-mail Brent Batten at bebatten@naplesnews.com
Ellie
By BRENT BATTEN
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
NAPLES — As the holiday season fades into the rear view mirror, the Naples branch of the Marine Corps League looks ahead to see looming ... the holiday season.
Christmas is bearing down especially fast on the former Marines because the detachment is still without warehouse space for its annual Toys for Tots drive.
The group has been using space in North Naples donated by Ave Maria University for the past few years but the school has reclaimed the building, leaving the Marines nowhere to go next season.
Mike Trephan, the public relations coordinator for the E.T. Brissom Detachment of the Marine Corps League in Collier County, renewed the plea for space at the group’s annual Honor the Free Press luncheon Wednesday. He dropped a none-too-subtle hint to a contingent from the Naples Daily News that the paper’s soon-to-be vacated property on Central Avenue would make an ideal site, provided it’s still available.
Trephan says the program may end in Naples if a new home isn’t found. “Absent a storage and distribution facility, this nationwide Christmas giving program, having prospered for 60 years, may cease to have a presence in our community.”
Post Commandant Nick Marsit said the group needs 5,000 square feet of space under air. Nearby parking is a plus. “There’s only one day when parking matters. That’s the day parents come to pick up the toys,” Marsit said. If need be, the volunteers could shuttle parents from available parking to the donated warehouse, he said.
Last year, Toys for Tots provided gifts for children from about 1,900 families, Marsit said. He expects the number to grow this year. “I would say it’s definitely going to increase unless there’s a huge turnaround in the economy,” he said.
Right now, the tables, donation boxes and other accouterments that make up the Toys for Tots program are housed in a donated storage locker.
The need for space will increase exponentially in October. That’s when the national chapter will begin sending toys for local distribution. Soon thereafter, donation boxes placed at businesses and country clubs will fill up, with volunteers bringing the toys to the central facility to prepare for distribution. Right after Thanksgiving, the group’s booth at the Coastland Center mall will go up, bringing in even more toys.
Naples is one of about 500 communities in the nation with a local Toys for Tots program.
Nationally, the Marines have donated toys to more than 175 million children in the program’s 60 years of existence.
The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is an Internal Revenue Service-recognized 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity. The mission statement of Toys for Tots is simple. “Bring the joy of Christmas to America’s needy children.”
For more information or to donate space contact Marsit at 821-2804.
Trephan told the luncheon crowd the volunteers’ work pays off at Christmas.
“If you don’t think it is worthwhile, you should come down (to the warehouse) on the day we give out the gifts.”
- - -
E-mail Brent Batten at bebatten@naplesnews.com
Ellie