Toys For Tots 2015 Events

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

It's time to kick-off the 2015 Toys For Tots campaign planning and reporting.

Much like last year's thread http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?128848-Toys-for-Tots-2014-Events we wish great success upon all who work so hard to do this for the kids who are the ultimate recipients of these blessings.

Here's to a record-setting 2015 TFT Effort ! ! !

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Well, last Thursday was supposed to be our 2015 Toys For Tots kick-off event here in San Angelo, TX. However, due to predictions of rain and foul weather it has been postponed until tomorrow evening. UNFORTUNETLY, I will be out of town on business for the City Board upon which I serve as President. BUMMER.

Anywaze.... This schedule SNAFU caused our kick-off (tomorrow) to come after a previously scheduled concert LAST NIGHT ! ! !

A local beer joint, FIDDLESTRINGS SPORTS BAR, again hosted a concert with all admission proceeds going to Toys For Tots. For $10 or the donation of a NEW UNWRAPPED TOY folks got in to hear Bob Schneider http://www.bobschneider.com/cover with a couple of acoustic guitarists as opening acts.

One of the two acoustic performers wrote the song RIDING WITH PRIVATE MALONE. You may have heard it before....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh1m0eC1004

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riding_with_Private_Malone

Here's are some pics of our Deuce serving "Signage Duty" adjacent to the venue....

















Stay tuned.... There's more happening before this year's campaign wraps up.

 

[m715mike]

TFT Event - Willis, Texas - December 5, 2015

The 6th Annual Toys for Tots East Texas Toy Run will be held on December 5, 2015. It was fun last year, and the organizers are hoping for a bigger event this year.


If you plan to attend, please respond to Post #87 here >>
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...-area-Events&p=1797411&viewfull=1#post1797411


Sorry if this is considered cross-posting. I figured the Houston-area group would see it faster in the other thread. I'll post pictures here after the event.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Our Black Friday Toys-For-Tots 12-Hour Donation Drive was a huge success in spite of uncooperative weather.
I rolled out at 0730hrs in 39F temperatures with a light mist falling into the TOPLESS cab of the Deuce. Fortunately, Best Buy's parking lot is only about 3.5 miles from our LZ. On arrival, most of the compound was already set up, so all I had to do was position the Deuce with its Toys-For-Tots banners on each side and begin assisting.

Here are some pictures for your viewing enjoyment....









Through the day, it rained on and off. At times it POURED DOWN in buckets. Our Marines are tough. Improvise, adapt, overcome! They worked as a team. We had almost 40 collection points with three major shift changes where we shuttle Marines back to and from Goodfellow AFB. A few had even volunteered for double or triple shifts!!! All together, including non-uniformed volunteer active duty Marines we had over 100 mostly students in firefighting and intel training and instructors giving "for the kids". It does a heart good to see such an outpouring, to hear their personal stories of how Toys-For-Tots impacted their own childhoods and how "paying it forward" was as much a blessing for them as the TFT program is for today's kids.



As the day when on, the temps dropped to 33F. The Marines stood their ground!

To be continued....

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Continued.....










Canopies with heaters and the money-sorting Dealer Demo trailer helped warm the frigid Marines and other volunteers. In an act of random kindness, a Tent & Bounce House rental business showed up and set up their Wedding Chapel Tent for more sheltered space. WOW - Generosity putting boots on the ground !!!





Continued again.....

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Continued.....



<----- Look at the cold red hands on that Marine. Dedication!

Well, we broke camp at 2000hrs. By 2200hrs hundreds of toys and thousands of dollars had been collected.

Our next event is the Christmas Lights Parade on 12/5/15. Then another 12-Hour Donation Drive on 12/12/15.

Stay tuned.

 

[AZK9]

Thanks for posting all the pics! Glad things worked out in spite of the weather!

 

[SteveKuhn]

The ammo can donation boxes are a nice touch. Good use of a day.

Steve

 

[m715mike]

Saturday, December 5, 2015 TFT

The 6th annual Toys for Tots East Texas Toy Run event was another success today bringing in a lot of new toys and over $5 thousand in cash to support Toys for Tots.




This event is a lot of fun. It is primarily focused around the bikers; however, it looks like (just maybe...) the event may evolve to include a military vehicle show??? The four trucks that came today were very well received.




I am most impressed by the number of different fundraising ideas employed to generate cash. The event starts with the "Toy Run," which is a police escorted motorcycle ride from Cleveland, Texas to Willis, Texas. The cost of admission is $5 or a new, unwrapped toy. There were roughly 60 bikes today. Once at the American Legion Hall in Willis, there is a raffle and an auction and BBQ sandwiches are sold. There were other activities like "Put Your Friend in Jail" and a golf cart-pulled train for the kids.

 

[AZK9]

... it looks like (just maybe...) the event may evolve to include a military vehicle show??? The four trucks that came today were very well received. ...

That would be cool!

Glad to hear all went well! Those trucks look great along the treeline!

Thanks for sharing the pics! I enjoyed them.

 

[chestypuller1371]

very nice.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

AAR: San Angelo, Texas Christmas Lights Parade Saturday 12/5/2015

Well, with our Deuce all lighted and bannered-up for TOYS FOR TOTS to be in this years parade and just 48 hours until Parade time our Santa BACKED OUT !!! Since part of our TOYS FOR TOTS (TFT) entry is to bring Santa in his sleigh at the very end of the parade, Santa is a key player in this mission. Our TFT Coordinator called me Thursday evening to ask if I was still growing my beard (See Facial Hair thread: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showth...rimmed-vs-anything-else&p=1798522#post1798522 ) and to ask if I would be interested in a short notice gig as Santa. Immediately we both flashed to who would drive the Deuce!! I assured him that back-up driver volunteers were plentiful, we'd just want a little check-out ride to assure they could handle it.
So, in perfect edification of the Marine Corps saying: IMPROVISE, ADAPT, OVERCOME !, we changed our mission profile to GIT 'ER DONE!

Our next obstacle would be were to get a Santa Suit on such short notice. The TFT Coordinator took on that challenge while I addressed Deuce Drivers.

As soon as I mentioned our situation to Dianna, my bride stepped up to the plate and whole heartedly, in fact enthusiastically, volunteered for a battlefield commission and promotion from Soldier B to Driver !!! She's a KEEPER indeed!

By bedtime on Thursday we still weren't sure about a Santa Suit, but everything else was falling into place nicely. I figured worst case scenario would be to grab a cheap $50 Santa Suit at Walmart and pretend it was "real".

Mid-afternoon on Friday rolled around and I still hadn't heard about a Santa Suit. Just as I was about to make phone calls to assist in locating one, I got a text saying one had been located and that it was already being dropped off at the dry cleaners with a promised ready time of noon on Saturday.

it turns out that our TFT Warehouse had a mysterious duffle with a crumpled up Santa Suit that no one on the present Committee knew existed. It was only when our urgent need for a substitute Santa made its way through the grapevine that a former member of the TFT Committee asked if we still had that one. The greater blessing is that it is a nice quality (and was only wrinkled) costume and a quick fluffing at the dry cleaner's refreshed it quite well. BTW - Our thanks to Comet Cleaners for donating their "emergency services" at NO CHARGE!

So here are some pics from the staging area as Deuce Drivin' Dianna and Santa met forces with the US Marines to pull of a very successful mission in spite of a little FUBAR and SNAFU being dumped on us.....



Mission-ready Dianna



Madilyn (granddaughter), Kimmy, Santa (me), Emily (Kimmy's friend), Jay3 (Emily's son)



Santa and his Elfin Marines
SEMPER FI & HO-HO-HO



Alex (son-in-law) giving his daughter Madilyn her first Deuce-driving lesson



Santa's ride and the west Texas sunset
"Giddy-up lil' reindeer!"



Santa and his crew ready to roll....



"Let's light this rocket !!!"


"...and to all a good night."




Carry on.

 

[Another Ahab]

View attachment 598030
Madilyn (granddaughter), Kimmy, Santa (me), Emily (Kimmy's friend), Jay3 (Emily's son)


View attachment 598031
Santa and his Elfin Marines
SEMPER FI & HO-HO-HO

Carry on.

Hey, ColdWarrior, you were BORN to wear a Santa Suit; you look great!

 

[AZK9]

...

View attachment 598034
Santa and his crew ready to roll....

Now that is one good looking group!

Glad your mission was such a success.

 

[SteveKuhn]

The www.ToysForTotsNJ.com runs began last week in Morris County and continued with Bergen County yesterday. It continues today in NY state with the Warwick run. it's a huge effort with are a number of sponsors including MTA. I hear that our take for yesterday was 14,000 plus, or put another way, a full baggage car and 2/3 of a box car. I'm guessing that the Picatinny Marines will see in excess of 16,000+ from the train directly, and even more that are prompted by the train making its run and reminding people. Here are some tease photos with several hundred more at the links. The last one could be captioned either, "End of the Line" or "Pooped at Butler."

And yes, that is a 20 yard dumpster full being transferred to the box car at Hawthorne.

Here's a Facebook link to yesterday's album. It's public. There are also albums from last week's events and I suspect that the Warwick run will pop up there tomorrow. Poke around Angie's page if you like pictures that will brighten your day.

https://www.facebook.com/angeline.l...0167.1073741876.544855166&type=1&l=0fa2c06d99

Steve

 

[SteveKuhn]

Addendum: I think that the truck was just as upset as I was that I didn't take her to chase the Bergen train yesterday. Well, today was probably the last great Deuce-ride day of 2015, so . . .

GoogleMaps sez we barked, whistled, snorted and smoked our way 90 miles going over the river and through the woods on [some really narrow, twisty, hilly] local roads to Sugar Loaf and Warwick today.

Great train. Great day. What a hoot of a ride, especially over the mountain on 17A.

Couldn’t resist this series of shots.

Steve Kuhn

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

San Angelo, Texas

The Last 12-Hour Donation Drive was yesterday (Saturday)... Here's some photographic evidence as my AAR on the event.....


Receiving orders and logging emergency numbers into each Marine's cell phone.

What an outstanding group! Though ready to fight ISIS, they are also defenders of the children.

Some donors wanted pics with the Marines and the Deuce.

Me with the REAL Santa Claus !!!

As the sun set, we came under a SEVER THUNDERSTORM WARNING with incoming threats having already produced damaging 65MPH winds about 60 miles west of us. We broke camp promptly at 2000hrs (8pm) and, with a Deuce-load of toys, scrambled to our warehouse. Made it to dry storage just before the cold front arrived - ALL the toys stayed dry. But as I was leaving the warehouse the temp suddenly dropped almost 20 degrees and the winds really picked up. I was pummeled with blowing dirt and grit on the way home and, about a mile from the LZ the rain started. I was really barely damp upon arrival, but soon after we got about 1/2" of rain in about 15 minutes.

All in all it was a VERY SUCCESSFUL day. The kids being the ultimate winners.

Next Saturday is our toy distribution day. Over 600 families will be served directly from our warehouse that day in addition to the hundreds also served in the surrounding counties, through church and civic organizations and the kids in the area hospitals and under state care.

I am often perplexed as to whether the kids or I am more greatly blessed by this wonderful Toys For Tots Foundation. God bless our US Marines !

Carry on.






.

 

[SteveKuhn]

I think it's great that you got a whole unit to do collections, stand formation and the like.

Steve

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

I think it's great that you got a whole unit to do collections, stand formation and the like.

Steve

Steve,
We actually had the day broken into three shifts for the Firefighter and Intel Students. That Group shot is just the 0800 shift at the beginning of the day. We had some Marines so enthusiastic that they signed up for ALL THREE shifts !!!

Great young men and women - all of them.

John

 

[Another Ahab]

San Angelo, Texas

View attachment 599199 Me with the REAL Santa Claus !!!

Did you pass this year on his meter scan!?

(And is it true that now you have to take your shoes off first before scanning?)