News

January 27

Toys for Tots in need of toy chest

Program that helps needy children is running out of storage space.

By Sheena Delazio sdelazio@timesleader.com
Times Leader Staff Writer
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WYOMING – The U.S. Marine Corps Toys for Tots program helps needy children enjoy holidays as they might not have before the program found them.

Now, the Toys for Tots program is in need itself – for storage space to house about 8,000 of those toys.

Toys for Tots Coordinator, Gunnery Sgt. Dennis Jones, said Thursday the program is looking for donated space to store the toys collected through the program.

The space the toys now are housed in, a 1,400-square-foot warehouse donated to Toys for Tots by Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services, is available to the program only until Feb. 1.

“We’re days away from having to pack up and reroute the toys somewhere else because (Mericle) only gave it to us for a certain time period,” Jones said.

Jones said he learned that the storage area, in Pittston, was going to be taken over by a business renting the space.

“We don’t have the money to spend on rented facilities,” Jones said.

Jones said if a space isn’t located by Feb. 1, the toys will have to be temporarily stored at the U.S. Marine Corps training facility on Wyoming Avenue in Wyoming, but there isn’t enough space there for 8,000 toys.

Jones said the accumulation of toys is left over from the nonprofit’s Christmas distribution and donations that came in after the holidays.

“We don’t have the extra space,” Jones said. “And, we can’t allow people to come here (to donate or pick up toys) because it’s a government facility.”

Jones said he hopes that by reaching out to the public he’ll find an individual or business willing to donate space to store the toys.

“Any (funding) we have is for toys for Toys for Tots,” Jones said. “We can’t spend money on trying to find a place.”

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