Toys for Tots Program Helps Marion Families; Marines thank City for Partnership Share

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Approx­i­mate­ly 2,000 toys were dis­trib­uted to Mar­i­on area fam­i­lies as a result of com­mu­ni­ty par­tic­i­pa­tion through the Toys for Tots Pro­gram. Toys for Tots, local­ly facil­i­tat­ed by U.S. Marines out of Gris­som Air Reserve Base, dis­trib­utes toys to needy fam­i­lies in 7 coun­ties, Grant Coun­ty being the 2^nd largest next to Howard Coun­ty in regards to the num­ber of fam­i­lies served.

Toys were dropped off at each of the Mar­i­on fire sta­tions, and Marines vis­it­ed local busi­ness­es and orga­ni­za­tions. Sgt. Trevor Williams said many local com­pa­nies and indi­vid­u­als made the pro­gram a suc­cess this past Christ­mas. He high­light­ed the efforts of one big con­trib­u­tor, Café Val­ley. ​“The bak­ery filled near­ly sev­en box­es with toys, and donat­ed a full pal­let of 400 pack­aged cakes.” Sgt. Williams added indi­vid­u­als gave around $3,500 in cash dona­tions at the Mar­i­on Gen­er­al Motors Met­al Stamp­ing Plant as a result of gate col­lec­tions facil­i­tat­ed by the Marines.

Sgt. Williams added Nik­ki Owen of the City of Marion’s Mayor’s Office was espe­cial­ly help­ful as well as the Mar­i­on Fire Depart­ment. Cer­tifi­cates of Appre­ci­a­tion were pre­sent­ed at City Hall to May­or Jess Alum­baugh and Fire Chief Geoff Williams.

May­or Alum­baugh said the City of Mar­i­on was pleased to part­ner with Toys for Tots by pro­vid­ing the fire sta­tions as drop-off loca­tions for cit­i­zens to donate toys. ​“We want to thank our U.S. Marines for their ser­vice to our coun­try, and for pro­vid­ing a won­der­ful ser­vice for chil­dren in our city, state, and nation.”

The toys were dis­trib­uted to fam­i­lies through the Sal­va­tion Army and Wilson’s Lodge. Sgt. Williams said he hopes to get the word out ear­li­er and more fre­quent­ly in the future to improve the pro­gram and serve even more families.