This holiday season Virginia Wesleyan College sponsored a Toys for Tots campaign. Students, faculty and staff collected 304 toys for children to receive on Christmas morning. Fourteen committee members set up collection points around campus for a three week period to collect the toys. The Scribner Bookstore was the central collection and display point.
A special thank you to Circle K, the Black Student Union, College
Advancement, Athletics-Women’s Basketball, and the Business Office for being major contributors of this program.
Members of the Wesleyan community volunteered their time on Dec. 15 and 20 to join forces with the U.S. Marine Corps and Salvation Army to help distribute the toys to families in Hampton Roads. Last year over 88,000 toys were collected in Hampton Roads and 23,000 families were served.
The mission of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted. The primary goal of Toys for Tots is to deliver, through a shiny new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to needy youngsters that will motivate them to grow into responsible, productive, patriotic citizens and community leaders.
The objectives of Toys for Tots are to help needy children throughout the United States experience the joy of Christmas; to play an active role in the development of one of our nation’s most valuable natural resources - our children; to unite all members of local communities in a common cause for three months each year during the annual toy collection and distribution campaign; and to contribute to better communities in the future.