Toys for Tots Ramps Up Its Collection and Distribution Process as the Christmas Season Approaches

On November 20th, Royal Examiner spoke with Toys for Tots Regional Coordinator Erin Henry after a tip from mom Bonnie Henry that the group would be on the job collecting and categorizing thus far collected gifts for Santa to distribute to youths from families in need of a little holiday assistance this coming Christmas season.

It will be a season that will see the age range of Toys for Tots recipients climb from a high of 12 years in the past to 17 this year. So, congrats to you, 13 to 17-year-olds. Because as we approach the end of those high school years, whether we realize it or not, some part of our subconscious is clinging to those childhood years of innocence. Some toys are made for older kids, too. In fact, Regional Coordinator Henry pointed out to us that volunteers the previous day had moved 400 bikes for Santa to deliver regionally this year. That region includes Warren, Frederick, Page, Clarke, Shenandoah Counties, and Winchester City.

We rendezvoused with Henry and her team of volunteers on the second floor of the United Bank building on the Town of Front Royal’s northside. Seeing the room full of pending gifts we asked where our regional Toys for Tots was in its collection and distribution process.

Including members of the Henry, Blevins, Mauck, Mullins, Heflin, and Cunningham families, Toys for Tots volunteers gather for a group shot with Regional Coordinator Erin Henry (back center-left), Wednesday, Nov. 20, on the second floor of the United Bank in northside Front Royal. When they parted we could see the sea of gifts collected locally to help fill Santa’s gift bag in Warren County this Christmas. Royal Examiner Photos Roger Bianchini

“We actually kicked off in October officially, but we are really ramping up right now,” she told us. “I can see that,” I replied gesturing toward the huge room filled with stacks of boxed toys.

“Yea, orders are coming in like crazy, so all our volunteers are here packing bags, filling orders. We’ll have our first distribution in Warren County tonight here, at the bank,” Erin said of the evolving process allowing Santa to do Christmas Eve pickups on the road, rather than carry them all, all the way from the North Pole.

“We actually have two locations, our distribution centers change every year because they’re donated to us. So, we have two here in Warren County, this one here at United Bank, the bank was gracious enough to donate this space to us. And then we have another building on Chester Street which is owned by Artsii,” she said of Santa’s two local pickup spots.

“There’s a Toys for Tots fundraiser that they’re doing,” Henry said of that second site donator Artsii. “So, there’s going to be a lot going on, we’ll have cookies with Santa down there on December 7, the day of the Front Royal Christmas Parade. Santa will be down there in the evening from 5:30 to 8 p.m. and they’ll have crafts and all kind of stuff, including an adults wreath making work shop, which may be signed up for here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/winter-wreath-making-workshop-tickets-1086617194279?aff=oddtdtcreator

“And it’s sponsored by Artsii, which is the company that owns that building,” Henry said of the second gracious local space donation for the cause.

Bonnie Henry with great-granddaughter Gemma Blevins during the Nov. 20 gift collection and categorization. Below, Gemma after hearing about the Toys for Tots effort, volunteered to help, with mom Breauna Henry, left, and aunt Alyssa Henry’s assistance.

“We have a ton of amazing volunteers. This is my first year as coordinator,” Erin told us, noting that, “Myself and my family we’ve all volunteered with Toys for Tots for 20 years but it’s my first time coordinating it. And I have been pleasantly surprized, people have just jumped in. Almost all the volunteers are new with the exception of a handful … and they are rocking and rolling,” she said of the enthusiasm brought to the table by the volunteers new and old.

Henry also told us that her mom Bonnie was in the process of trying to organize a challenge between the Warren County Sheriff’s Office and Town of Front Royal Police Department for a Toys for Tots’ “Battle of the Badges” competition. “We’ll be at Wal-mart on November 30th, and they’re going to be collecting toys and monetary donations,” Erin told us of the as-yet to be finalized event, which if only one agency was able to attend, could be renamed “Stuff the Cruiser” she suggested.

“And either way it’s very exciting. All the community, all the communities, are really involved,” she said of the Toys for Tots program dating to 1947, when it was started by post-World War 2, U.S. Marines. Organized nationally now in Quantico, near the Marine base, Toys for Tots has 26 paid national coordinating staff, Erin told us, adding that all those staff salaries are paid for out of the interest from an endowment fund. So, she pointed out, 97 cents of every dollar raised by Toys for Tots goes “to putting toys into the hands of children.”

So, OOH-RAH, U.S.Marines and national staff, Toys for Tots local volunteers and regional coordinators, who all through several generations like the Henry family, have helped keep the program going for 77 years from the wake of World War 2.

Two final views of the Toys for Tots donations made locally so far. Keep up the good work, you Christmas elves.

And OOH-RAH, Santa Claus and his reindeer team too, for their annual Christmas Eve pick-up assistance.