Volunteer Link on social media. One Stop Christmas: One Stop Christmas Shop (signupgenius.com)
TFT has set up their Toys for Tots warehouse at White Oaks Mall as a store for one day (Dec 15th). They have ten tables, five for boys and five for girls, ages 0-2, 3-5, 6-7, 8-10, 11-18. Families who apply and are approved show up at an assigned time slot and get to pick out what toys they want for their children. They do it this way to ensure the child gets a gift they want instead of them just throwing some random items in a bag.
They also allow four other organizations to set up a table at our location: Min O’Beirne Crisis Nursery (provides diapers and wipes), City of Springfield (provides hats and gloves), Springfield Urban League (provides socks) and another organization that is TBD to hand out Blankets.
The Salvation Army screens the applications, approves and assigns shopping times for the approved applicants and provides a couple of employees to check in and check out the shoppers on the day of the event.
Approved Clients are escorted by a personal shopper from the door all the way through the store then out to the parking lot where our volunteers will be handing out food bags provided by the Blue Cross Blue Shield.
To pull this event off, they need volunteers to fill over 400 2hr and 15min volunteer slots for positions such as; Personal Shoppers, Cart/Shopping Bag Assistants, Line Attendants, Food Truck Assistant and Cleanup Crew Members.
They say they are seven days away from their big event and still have over 240 open volunteer slots that need filled.
This year 1,183 families submittted applications for 3,208 children. Due to volunteer and monetary reasons, we are only able to approve 656 applications to support 1,819 children.
Toys for Tots is a National organization but is ran by LOCAL Coordinators. Sangamon County Toys for Tots staff consists of three volunteers. The Local program receives no monetary support from the national foundation but we do occasionally receive shipments of supplemental toys from the foundation when they have them. We rely on the generosity of the local community for toys and monetary donations. The number of families we can support is determined by the amount of community support we receive.
“About” the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program
Toys for Tots, a 76-year old National charitable Program run by the U.S. Marine Corps, provides happiness and hope to less fortunate children during each Christmas holiday season. The toys and other gifts collected and distributed by Marines and volunteers offer these children recognition, confidence and a positive memory for a lifetime. We believe it is such experiences that help disadvantaged children become responsible citizens and caring members of their community.
“About” the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation
The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity, is the support organization for the U. S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots Program. The Foundation was created at the behest of the U. S. Marine Corps and provides support in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commander, Marine Forces Reserve, who directs the U. S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots Program. The Foundation has supported Toys for Tots since 1991 and supplemented local campaigns with tens of millions of toys valued at over one billion dollars.
For over seven decades, the program has evolved and grown exponentially having delivered hope and the magic of Christmas to over 281 million less fortunate children.
One Stop Christmas: One Stop Christmas Shop (signupgenius.com)