Toys for Tots Michigan

Interested in giving to Toys for Tots, Michigan resident, and want to brighten the Christmas season for a child or two? Find out more about how the Marine Toys for Tots program works, where you can donate, and more.

What the Marine Toys for Tots does is collect unwrapped, new toys for needy children. They collect them during the last three months of the year to have them ready to distribute mainly in communities with Marine Corp Reserve Units or Marine Corp League Detachments for the holidays. If a community has a group that is authorized by the organization to run a Toys for Tots campaign, toys may be collected and distributed there as well.

What the Marine Corps hopes to achieve with this program is to instill a sense of hope and to motivate those children to grow up into adults who will give back to the community. Keep your eyes open for Toys for Tots events throughout the year because those are not only fun, but you can get more information about how to donate toys or money.

Toys for Tots has been around since 1947, when the wife of Maj. Bill Hendricks of the U.S. Marine Corps gave him a Raggedy Ann doll and asked him to take it to an organization that would find it a home in the arms of a needy child for Christmas. Since he had no luck finding the organization in question, he set out to start one and collected and delivered over 5,000 toys in Los Angeles that first year. The rest, of course, was history. The Marine Corps picked up the idea, took it nationwide, and ever since, needy and deserving children have found new, unwrapped toys for Christmas.

There are several opportunities for giving to Toys for Tots in Michigan. To find the nearest toy donation center to your home, visit the Toys for Tots Search Page. Select Michigan from the drop-down list and then search by city or county. You'll get the name or names of the coordinators, e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and fax numbers.

Areas of Michigan that have Toys for Tots locations include: Alma, Bad Axe, Battle Creek, Bay City, Benton Harbor, Big Rapids, Cadillac, Chassell, Crawford/Otsego counties, Detroit/Harper Woods, East Tawas, Flint, Fremont, Gladstone, Grand Rapids, Hart, Holland, Houghton Lake, Howell, Ionia County, Iron Mountain, Lansing, Lenawee County, Ludington, Marquette, Monroe, Montcalm Area, Mt. Pleasant/Clare, Muskegon, New Buffalo, Oden/Harbor Springs, Roscommon County, Saginaw, St. Johns, and Traverse City.

Can't find one close enough? Try donating money online. You can make it a recurring gift or just donate once. You can also donate in honor of someone special.

In addition to even that option, you can make your own business a Toys for Tots drop-off location. Simply visit the information page at the Toys for Tots website. The first step there is to contact a coordinator.

Don't forget to sign up a family if you feel that they're in need.

Though you can go to the general Toys for Tots website to find the Michigan locations closest to you for donations, plus the contact information for coordinators when it comes to requesting toys or finding out how to make your business a drop-off center, some areas have their own sites:

• Central Michigan Toys for Tots site
• Bay County Toys for Tots
• Lakeshore Toys for Tots

If you live in Michigan and want to make sure the kids of your community have a Merry Christmas thanks to new, unwrapped toys, spread the word. Donate toys at the designated drop-off areas or simply donate money. Want to be more involved? Contact the closest coordinator to where you live or work and find out more about what you can do to help the Toys for Tots organization. Then watch as the children grow up and hopefully become upstanding citizens in the community, giving back when they get the chance.

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