History - Toys For Tots. RACINE - - Tex Reynolds Toys For Tots is well known in Racine County for giving out refurbished toys during the holiday season to needy children. However, the organization has a long history of giving in many other ways. Racine Good Fellers, the Toys For Tots benefactor organization, has also given out food baskets to the elderly and needy, YMCA and YWCA memberships to deserving children, checks to servicemen in World War II and clothing and cash for necessities. The need for such a civic- minded organization rose in Racine almost immediately after the onset of the Great Depression in 1. Vern Hoffman, the former editor of The Journal Times and a past president of Good Fellers. Good Fellers was started to provide food baskets to needy families and toys for their tots at Christmas time.''According to Hoffman and Don Karkow, the current president of Toys For Tots, the gift- giving movement began with the Racine Boy Scouts in 1. Toys for Tots - A Short History. 60 years of making holiday magic. Since its inception 60 years ago, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program has distributed more than 313 million toys to 151 million children. Scout Commissioner Art Gruhl. For several years the scouts distributed food and toys during the holiday season on their own. Meanwhile, another community effort was taking shape in Racine - the start of Good Fellers. That group, which included a popular columnist for The Journal Times, named Tex Reynolds, also wanted to provide food baskets and toys to poor families at Christmas. In 1. 93. 4 the scout program needed help with funding, and according to Hoffman, Gruhl came to Reynolds for help. He asked Reynolds to publicize the program's need for money in his newspaper column. A community tradition was born that year, as Good Fellers became a fund- raising organization, with Toys for Tots as its main beneficiary. Reynolds assumed the responsibilities of president of Good Fellers, with Henry Olson of the First National Bank as treasurer, and Gruhl remained in charge of the toy distribution. With overwhelming support from the community, the program flourished. Hoffman said the families receiving Christmas toys and food baskets reached the thousands, memberships to local youth clubs were handed out, volunteers began to refurbish old toys to give to children, Good Fellers bought new toys to give, the elderly received fruit cakes and candy, Good Fellers collaborated with other organizations to send Christmas checks to servicemen during World War II and continued to give cash and clothing to the needy. At one point the organization also set up a lending library of toys where children whose parents couldn't afford to buy them, could . Women at Rainfair, a clothing manufacturer, contributed doll clothing they made. Olga Christensen, a resident of the Danish Old People's Home, made clothes for 5. Hoffman said more than 1. Racine high schools open at the time, Park, Horlick, Lutheran and St. Catherine's; children from the YMCA and YWCA; Boy Scouts, members of the Elks Club, St. Vincent de Paul and the Salvation Army. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is now in its 68th year. Toys for Tots began in 1947, when Major William L. Mission; Overview; History; Request Toys. The mission of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new. Marine Toys For Tots Foundation. The U. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program. One individual, either a Marine, member of a Marine Corps League Detachment, or member of a local community organization, is designated the Toys for Tots Coordinator for that community. Fifth, the Foundation could ensure that the Toys for Tots program operates. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Campaign was the second best in the previous 54 year history of the program.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
December 2016
Categories |