Toys for Tots marking 75th year
Toys for Tots is an annual Christmas campaign that provides Christmas gifts for children in need.
Colby Jeffrey has held a toy drive for Toys for Tots for the past nine years. This year蘑菇视频 drive is slated for Dec. 11 at Krispy Kreme at Trinity Pointe, Washington. (Photo courtesy of Washington Toys for Tots)
Each year, the Toys for Tots drive collects new, unwrapped toys that are distributed to area children in need at Christmas. (Photos courtesy of Washington Toys for Tots)
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This holiday season marks the 75th anniversary of the well-loved Toys for Tots program.
The national initiative was launched in 1947 to collect and distribute toys for children whose families may not have the financial means to buy them gifts for Christmas.
鈥淭he primary goal is to make Christmas joyful for kids. Christmas for kids is such an important thing,鈥� said Michael Pallesco, Toys for Tots coordinator for Washington and Greene counties.
Toys for Tots was started when Diane Hendricks, the wife of Marine Corps Reserve Maj. Bill Hendricks, asked her husband to deliver a few handcrafted dolls she鈥檇 made to an agency that supports children in need.
When Bill reported back to his wife that he could not find such an organization, she instructed him to start one. Hendricks and the Marines in his reserve unit in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys in 1947.
Today, Toys for Tots distributes an average of 18 million toys to 7 million less fortunate children annually.
Washington Toys for Tots is a key part of those efforts.
Thanks to local individuals and businesses who supported the program with donations of toys, Toys for Tots served about 3,500 children in Washington and Greene counties in 2021 and distributed more than 30,000 toys, books, and stocking stuffers.
About 300 toy collection boxes are currently located in businesses in the counties. Patrons can look for the familiar white and red boxes with the Toys for Tots train logo and drop off new and unwrapped toys.
A list of the drop-off sites for Greene and Washington counties is located at Washington-pa.toysfortots.org.
Registration is held on Saturdays throughout November at Washington Crown Center, North Franklin Township, while the toy drive kicks off in October. In Fayette County, the last day for registration is Wednesday, Dec. 7 from 2 to 6 p.m. at the old BonTon location in the Uniontown Mall.
The Washington and Greene chapter was started in 2003 by Pallesco蘑菇视频 father, Ralph Pallesco, a Vietnam veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps. When he passed away in 2013, Pallesco assumed the role of coordinator.
He said that there are parents who once turned to Toys for Tots to help make Christmas special for their children and now volunteer for the program.
鈥淩ight now, there are three or four moms who, when their children were young, used Toys for Tots, and they volunteer every year now,鈥� said Pallesco.