LIHU‘E — Megan Souza, representing Precision Fencing and Landscaping, said their Christmas Toy Drive table will be available at the Grove Farm Market for just two more Saturdays.
“We take money, too,” Souza said. “It’s not just (new, unwrapped) toys.”
This is the third year, the company has participated in the program that “benefits the keiki of Kaua‘i” through the Toys for Tots Foundation program. Through an agreement with the Grove Farm Company, the former pageant queen and her family maintained the collection site from Nov. 5.
Capt. Rod Green of the Marine Corps League, and the Kaua‘i Toys for Tots coordinator, launched the Kaua‘i program during the Kaua‘i Veterans Council Veterans Day Parade by driving his vehicle in the parade, and opening the Kaua‘i collection site at the Kaua‘i Veterans Center.
Following years of serving as the Toys for Tots collection site, corporate rules forced the Kaua‘i Toys for Tots to relocate its collection site to the Kaua‘i Veterans Center where Green and other volunteers keep the center open on Friday evenings from 5 p.m., Saturdays, and Sundays until 5 p.m. in response to inquiring minds wondering where the Toys for Tots moved to.
“We’re still here,” Green said. “This is the 75th year for the Toys for Tots, and there are a lot of keiki who depend on this program to receive a toy they would otherwise not have for Christmas.”
Last year, during the restrictive COVID-19 pandemic, the Kaua‘i Toys for Tots served more than 1,000 keiki through its collection of 3,213 toys that included the help from the Precision Fencing & Landscaping efforts, motorcycle clubs, and individuals.
This year, the Kaua‘i Toys for Tots needs more than toys.
“We need help in keeping the collection site open,” Green said. “We even had Kaua‘i Veterans Council commander Mary Kay Hertog spending a few hours helping us, this weekend.”
To answer the call for toys and volunteers, the starting point is the toysfortots.org website where donors can contribute financially, or with a toy, or volunteers by clicking on the website’s “Menu” button, finding the local campaign, “Hawai‘i,” and County, “Kauai.”
The Menu button on the Kaua‘i site map can have people requesting a toy, donating, or volunteering to help with the various tasks involved with the program.
The basic mission of the Marine Toys for Tots program is to collect new, unwrapped toys and distribute those toys to less fortunate children at Christmas with the goal of the gift bringing the joy of Christmas and a message of hope to America’s less fortunate children.
Information: toysfortots.org.
