(KNSI) – Toys for Tots delivered nearly 16,000 gifts last year to roughly 3,000 kids in the St. Cloud area. It is trying to do even more to help in 2023.
Registration is underway, helping to ensure all boys and girls in the area can celebrate the holiday season. Coordinator Andrew Fenwick says the group welcomes monetary donations on top of bikes, balls, dolls, and toys. Fenwick says any cash raised allows him to go on a shopping spree for those enrolled in the program.
“Any monies that are donated locally, I’m going to spend them at the local businesses: Fleet Farm or Menards or Target, some of the other stores in the area. Whatever it takes. I don’t believe in spending money online to toy places in Vermont or Las Vegas.”
Fenwick says he has recently added a Little Falls program to cut down on driving for parents. He gives the boundaries for the St. Cloud service area. “We’re trying to keep people within an area from Royalton south, from Kimball north, from Albany or Melrose east, and from perhaps Foley. The further out we go, the further the families have to go, so that’s why I’m always trying to look for distribution points in those other areas.”
To open up new distribution points means additional volunteers. Toys for Tots already works with Catholic Charities, but there are opportunities for you to help out too. There are three distributions scheduled for this year, beginning on December 14th.
Fenwick jokes that he is a former gunnery sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, meaning he is very good at putting people to work.
A link with more information is here.
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