Submitted photo Chris Lee, left, and Owen Peet, right, spoke with the Rotary Club of Elkins about the Randolph County Toys for Tots program.

Randolph County Toys for Tots coordinator Chris Lee and Rotarian Owen Peet addressed the club, outlining this year’s Randolph County Toys for Tots campaign. Toys for Tots is a program of the Marine Corp Reserve that collects and distributes new toys to children aged 2-12.

Toys for Tots began in 1947 as the brainchild of Marine Corp Reserve Major Bill Hendricks. Bill’s wife, Diane, had some handcrafted dolls and asked Hendricks to deliver them to an agency that supported children in need.

He couldn’t find an organization to donate the toys to, so Diane instructed him to start one. Hendricks and the marines in his reserve unit in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys that first year.

Seeing the considerable success that occured in that initial year, the Marine Corps Reserve commandant directed all marine reserve sites to implement a Toys for Tots campaign, creating a national community action program in 1948.

Hendricks worked at Warner Brothers Studios, and he asked many celebrities to help support the newly created program. Walt Disney designed the Toys for Tots logo which includes a miniature three-car train.

The Toys for Tots Foundation was established in 1991 at the behest of the Marine Corps to run and support the Toys for Tots program.

When the program expanded to all 50 states, the Marine Corps authorized the organization to permit civilian organizations to carry the campaign for them where there was no active Marine Reserve unit.

In 1962, the New York Yankees became the first organization to sponsor a ‘bring a toy’ game.

“You’ll see this happening every year. Big events will become a partner with Toys for Tots and that leads to a lot of the donations received on a national level. You see this in a microcosm here in Elkins where we do kind of the same thing. Big Timber has a box, a lot of local businesses have boxes,” said Lee.

When Lee took over the program in 2020, it was serving children in seven counties including Randolph, Tucker, Upshur, Lewis, Taylor, Marion and Harrison counties. The following year, the local program evolved and now serves just Randolph County. Additionally, the local organization assists the community of Brownton in Barbour County through Brownton Helping Hands.

In the 2024 campaign, Randolph County Toys for Tots served 211 families with 535 children in Randolph County and 156 children in Barbour County. In the current campaign, the number of families being served stands at 168 families with 424 children in Randolph County and 285 children in Barbour County. “I expect we’ll get another 40 or 50 applications,” commented Lee.

The program serves children between the ages of 2 and 12 who are residents of Randolph County.

There are no income guidelines but there is a vetting process to make sure the program is not being taken advantage of by any individual.

“We work with a couple different agencies and the City of Elkins Police Department to look at our application list and highlight any that need a closer look,” said Lee.

According to Peet, toys can be dropped at any of the numerous collection sites in Randolph County: Big Timber Brewing, Clementine’s Cantina, Davis Medical Center, Dollar General Stores, Elkins City Hall, Edward Jones (both Elkins locations), Elkins Physical Therapy (Elkins and Valley Bend), Elkins-Randolph County YMCA, Freedom Bank, Hair Graphics, Phil Gainer Community Center, Mountain Gymnastics Academy, Randolph County Senior Center, Wal-mart and Youth Health Services. Elkins Purple Majesties and the Mt. Vernon 4-H Club are also conducting toys drives.

In addition to the toys collected at these locations, monetary gifts will be used to purchase additional toys.

The lists provided in the applications will guide the purchase of toys. Ollie’s in Bridgeport also supports Toys for Tots.

“Ollie’s collects money in their store and writes a check for the next year that has to be spent in Ollie’s,” said Lee.

The greatest need is for toys for children 8 through 12.

Toys for the younger children are always donated in abundance but toys for older children are often lacking when it comes time to begin the packing process.

For more information about, or to make a donation to Elkins Toys for Tots, visit the group’s website, Elkins-wv.toysfortots.org or email Lee at chrisleewv@gmail.com.

Volunteers are needed on Thursday, Dec. 18 at the Phil Gainer Center from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. to sort and organize the collected toys.

“Do come out for this event. It is really fun and it’s really great to see. It definitely helps you get in the Christmas spirit and the idea of giving,” concluded Peet.