News

Tots receive toys

Photos

By Wendy Joan Biddlecombe | Hernando Today
Published: December 16, 2012

BROOKSVILLE - More than 12,000 toys were lined up on tables at Central High School Saturday, ready to be placed under the trees of Hernando County residents unable to afford them on their own.

Co-coordinator Ellen Ward explained many of the 1,075 families they serve are on public assistance, but not all.

"Some families can put food on the table and pay the rent," said Ward, adding holiday gifts aren't in the budget.

Modern Christmas carols played as Central High Navy Junior Cadets dressed in elf hats guided parents through the tables, organized by age and gender. The teen elves carried big, opaque plastic bags full of the hand-selected gifts the parents would later take home, and often helped pick out toys for the children they didn't know.

"It's like a train, rolling along," said Commandant Marion Kelley of the Marine Corps League Detachment 708, a nonprofit organization that promotes Marine values and traditions.

Volunteers showed up at 6 a.m. to unload U-Haul trucks and start displaying the gifts on tables. Others prepared lunch for the volunteers, pointed parents in the right direction and checked paperwork. Toys for Tots scheduled 140 families an hour to walk through the toy room, and the efficiently scheduled pick-ups ran ahead.

"It's the Marine way to do things," Kelley added.

Kelley said his mission and theme for the year was community involvement, and to let Hernando County residents know the kind of work Detachment 708 does — veteran assistance, funeral services and nightly meals served at their Sunshine Grove building.

"We want the public to know we're here for them, and we want to be a part of the community," Kelley said.

Kelley said the Toys for Tots giveaway was proof as a community "we can all get along, turn out and be productive."

wbiddlecombe@hernandotoday.com (352) 544-5283