Some reservists at the Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta are continuing a long-standing U.S. Marine Corps Reserve tradition, and in an East Cobb community.
Last Saturday, the Dorset Toys 4 Tots Drive held its first-ever collection for the upcoming holiday season in the Dorset subdivision. Friends and neighbors of Maj. Edward Jorge, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) and his wife helped collect toys for needy children (see photo below).
Toys for Tots started more than 60 years ago when Maj. Bill Hendricks, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, and a group of Marine reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed more than 5,000 toys to needy children. Hendricks’ idea caught on and was so successful that the Marine Corps adopted Toys for Tots the following year and expanded it into a nationwide program. In 1995, the Secretary of Defense approved Toys for Tots as an official activity of the U.S. Marine Corps and an official mission of the Marine Corps Reserve.
Today, Toys for Tots is the Marine Corps’ premier community action program and one of the nation’s flagship Christmas charitable causes. Toys for Tots is the only charitable endeavor within the Department of Defense which reaches outside the military establishment to give something back to the communities. Toys for Tots has enjoyed over a half century of success because of the support of millions of caring Americans, local communities, and corporate America plus the dedication and hard work of thousands of U.S. Marines.
Toys for Tots is a program which brings all elements of a community together in a common cause for three months each year. It is a program dedicated to helping in the development of our nation’s most valuable natural resource: our children. The shiny new toy at Christmas lets these youngsters know that someone cares.
For a complete list of drop-off points in Cobb and metro Atlanta, visit www.northatlanta.toysfortots.
Volunteers for the Dorset Toys 4 Tots Drive, L-R: left to right: SSgt Dunn (Toys 4 Tots representative at Dobbins), Christine Jorge, Edward Jorge, Anna Beck (Dorset neighbor), Greg Karel (Dorset neighbor), Jenifer Karel, TJ Beck, and SSgt Schuldt (from the same unit as SSgt Dunn).
