State collects hundreds of toys for Carson City tots
Just five days before Christmas, the state of Nevada has ensured something under the tree for hundreds of local children in the Carson City area this year.
About a half-dozen full cardboard bins for the annual Toys For Tots campaign were displayed in the portico of the State Capitol Tuesday morning as Joyce Buckingham of the Ron Wood Family Resource Center came by to collect the donations and accept a check from the Nevada State Law Enforcement Officers Association (NSLEOA).
Ron Wood will distribute toys to about 2,000 needy children in the Carson City area this year, said Buckingham, executive director of the local non-profit social services organization.
As in years past, each child helped by Toys For Tots this Christmas will receive three presents under their tree plus three stocking stuffers. This means thousands of toys have been collected from about eighty drop-off locations just in Carson City alone.
Buckingham said Ron Wood coordinates the donations locally for Toys For Tots, a national non-profit Christmas toy drive started in 1948 by the United States Marine Corps (USMC).
"The Ron Wood Family Resource Center oversees the Toys For Tots program, because we serve the most in need," she said. "It seems like a good marriage to make sure the children who are most in need get the toys."
A contingent of U.S. Marines from the Mountain Warfare Training Center (MWTC) in Pickle Meadows, California, near Bridgeport had driven about two hours north to be part of the Toys For Tots ceremony at the Nevada State Capitol Tuesday morning.
Buckingham said this is something the USMC at the MWTC do every year to show their support for a charitable training spanning 68 years. Three enlisted Marines, including a lance corporal, were present in their finest dress blues for the occasion.
For its part, the Capitol Police once again coordinated collection efforts this year on behalf of the state of Nevada.
Capitol Police Chief Jerome Tushbant said the Toys For Tots campaign has been a tradition for the state law enforcement agency going back decades, and the giving just keeps getting better with each passing Christmas.
"Every year that we do this we seem to get more and more," he said. "The generosity is wonderful. This is a program I'm really proud to be a part of."
Tushbant said drop-off bins are taken to several state agencies around Carson City, then collected and given to Ron Wood for distribution to the children in need.
"This represents the hard work of a lot of officers, a lot of government employees," he said. "They all come here and do these things for a great organization."
For the Capitol Police, participation in the annual Toys For Tots toy drive serves as reminder that it is much more than a law enforcement agency in Carson City.
"It's less about the Capitol Police and more about giving to the community," Chief Tushbant said. "We just enjoy being a part of it. We like being bigger than just a law enforcement agency. We like being part of the community."
Buckingham said she is grateful for public agencies with the state of Nevada, including the Capitol Police, as well as organizations like the NSLEOA, for stepping up to help children in Northern Nevada during Christmas.
"The state employees always give till it hurts," she said. "They do a tremendous job of donating toys. We're so very thankful."
Toys For Tots has been collecting new, unwrapped toys for children nationwide each Christmas for the past 68 years. For more information about the Carson City Area Toys For Tots program, please contact at the Ron Wood Family Resource Center at 775-884-2269.
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