As the rain kept pouring Saturday morning, the toys continued trickling in at Martin’s Supermarket for the annual Toys for Tots toy drive in Warsaw.
The Kosciusko County Fireman’s Association (KCFA) provided a downpour of gifts when they paraded in before 9 a.m.
Kevin McSherry, KCFA president, said the organization’s member fire departments have been participating in Toys for Tots for several years.
“Each department, they do their own fundraising. Sometimes we have a fundraising event or sometimes just donations. But, they independently raise their funds, buy their toys and they all come here (to JB’s Furniture) for staging and then we go over to Martin’s for the delivery,” McSherry said.
The KCFA includes 15 fire departments, with 14 in Kosciusko County and Nappanee.
“It’s just over 370 firemen,” McSherry said.
He wasn’t sure how much the different departments collected this year, but he thought they did pretty well despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I heard the trucks are full of toys. Milford is always the group to beat. They do an exceptional job and we’re quite proud of them. They set the bar pretty high,” McSherry said.
The Milford Fire Department also presented a check to Toys for Tots Saturday for $1,500.
McSherry said, “The firemen are out here for the people in many different ways. We help them during their worst day in a wreck or a severe illness, fire, whatever it may be. We’re there to do our best to help them.”
Local Toys for Tots organizer and former U.S. Marine Gunnery Sgt. David Morales said Saturday morning’s toy drive started out pretty slow.
“Very few cars. Probably the weather I’m sure played a factor. But, so far, it’s picked up tremendously, it’s been great. Even though the rain has picked up, the donations have been wonderful. Both monetary and toys, as well,” Morales said.
He noted that the KCFA brought in a lot of toys and he lost track of how many trucks came through.
“They also made a large monetary donation so I’m very excited about that,” Morales said.
Anyone who was unable to donate Saturday, he said there are still drop-off locations around the community.
“They can check it on the website as to where it’s at or they can contact me in regards to it,” Morales said. “Donations are always accepted, throughout the year, not only this time of season but throughout the year. And they can reach me if they want to go ahead and make a donation and I can make arrangements with them to take care of that.”
Contact Morales by email at Kosciuskocounty4t@ gmail.com or call 574-551-9895.
For Christmas in 2019, Toys for Tots serviced about 230 families.
For this year, Morales said, “We are well over that, so I’m expecting it to be over 250, so we’ll take care of everybody as needed.”
He asked that people keep in mind how this year has been and how it has impacted families.
“We hope that we can receive help and support in order to be able to take care of those families, both with toys and monetary donations,” Morales said.
Scott and Julia Busse, of Warsaw, brought their grandchildren with them Saturday to drop off toys.
“This is about the fourth year we’ve done this with them. So kind of teaching them to give a little at Christmas time, and it’s kind of a way we find out what they want for Christmas,” Scott said.
He said they took their grandchildren to the store and the kids picked out what they wanted to give, as well as what they would like.
“They’re learning to give,” he said. “It’s a time of year to give, and we get a lot, so we give. It’s the thing to do.”
Justin Shoemaker, with Akzo Nobel Coatings Inc., brought a box of toys from the company’s employees.
“It’s our employee engagement that we have set up through our employer, through our company, on site here in Warsaw. We took an initiative to get everybody involved and bring in some toys, and we got a hold of the Marine Corps and Toys for Tots to get some boxes into the plant and we were basically able to fill the whole box and bring it in,” Shoemaker said.
The toy collection started about mid November with Akzo Nobel’s 79 employees, said Deanna Cripe, Akzo Nobel.
“It’s kind of been a slow year, but we were able to get a few in there, so it’s good,” Shoemaker said.
Delivery of the Toys for Tots gifts will be Saturday, Dec. 19.
Anyone who hasn’t been able to donate yet but wants to can drop off the new unopened toys at drop-off sites around the county. Locations include Ace Hardware, Mentone; Latte Lounge, Side House Grill, Why Pay Retail, Walgreens, CVS, Menards, Martin’s, Walmart, Meijer, Shear Envious, Stock & Field (formerly Big R), Warsaw Orthodontics and Monteith Tire in Warsaw; Tippy Creek Winery, Leesburg; Miotto’s Main Street Bar & Grill, Milford; The Revolving Closet and Remax Lakes Realtors, Syracuse; Hunter’s BBQ, Etna Green; any fire department in the county and all six Freedom Express locations.
