How exactly does Toys for Tots work?

[Disneyland1084]

People donate, drop toys, etc..in the bins. People who need help with getting gifts apply for it. Then what? How does Toys for Tots distribute the donations? Do they wrap the presents, or give them directly to the parents or guardians of the children? I'm thinking of volunteering for the local chapter of TOT in my area NEXT year and want to get an idea of what goes on. I've always done the donating, and am curious how the distributing of the gifts goes.

 

[wilkeliza]

People donate, drop toys, etc..in the bins. People who need help with getting gifts apply for it. Then what? How does Toys for Tots distribute the donations? Do they wrap the presents, or give them directly to the parents or guardians of the children? I'm thinking of volunteering for the local chapter of TOT in my area NEXT year and want to get an idea of what goes on. I've always done the donating, and am curious how the distributing of the gifts goes.

Not sure about Toys for Tots but we had a gift tree where you had to be sponsored to be put on the tree. My school nurse asked my mom if she could sponsor us and put us on the tree in hopes that someone picked us. My mom had been struggling to make ends meet, I had glasses and braces, and she had just been diagnosed with cancer. The person who chose us wrapped the gifts the bought us and our sponsor ended up buying up dinner as well.

There was no disques like it had come from our mom or from Santa. We knew it came from our tree family.

 

[Alicenwonderment]

In college I volunteered to help. There were different areas with toys for certain ages. They give you something that could read girl age 12 and I walked around the room and chose 3 presents and we wrapped each one. Not sure what happens after that but I loved being able to make the decision and wrapping the gifts.

 

[georgina]

I like the way a group of churches in our area does it. We get a tag that says boy or girl and their age, donate an unwrapped gift, and the parents of the children get to pick out a gift for their own children from what was donated .

 

[Dawnlight]

I think it varies from place to place. Here, at least last I knew, the gifts were unwrapped and the parent could not choose items. The ages of the children were listed on the application (anyone who received state aid like health care or SNAP were qualified, in addition to other factors) and the items were bagged up by someone at the agency. Different groups can apply for Toys for Tots, then the toys are distributed by each approved agency or group.

 

[learningtolive]

I'm hoping to find a giving tree as I've been blessed this year with some extra money. I want to help.

Toys for Toys has changed. I just read someone online saying how it's difficult for individuals now to sign up and its typically through an organization. I received a Toys for Tots donation when I was like 9, it was just my dad and I at the time, and we barely had enough money for rent. He must've applied for it because one day in December a whole group of people came over with a few presents for me and the ingredients to make a Christmas meal (turkey, potatoes, stuffing, and I believe pie). I'll always remember that and usually donate to someone in need for the holidays because I remember how I felt knowing someone cared about us.

 

[Mark P.]

I was in the Marine Reserves back in the early 90's and how we did it back then was distribute the containers for the toys then after picking them up, we'd sort them by age, gender, etc. in a warehouse lent to us for the program, which was about a month or so.
I'm not sure how the word got out (a few ranks above me handled that), and folks would stop by the warehouse and go through the toys and simply pick what they'd like.
It worked beautifully, and although I was young when I participated, the impact and appreciation shown wasn't lost on me, and it was one of the best things I did in the military.