Toys for Tots few and far in between

Approximately 60 Toys for Tots donation boxes have been distributed throughout Porterville and adjacent areas.

The Toys for Tots program, run on a national level by the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, collects new, unwrapped toys and donates them to needy children during the holiday season.

However, as of Sunday, not a single drop site representative has called and asked for a full box to be picked up.

“I expected [donation rates] to be low, but not at this late hour...I’m really starting to get worried,” Porterville organizer Grace Muñoz-Rios said.

Muñoz-Rios said that although she has been to several functions where toy donations have been requested, she has frequently left with only a single toy.

“It’s been much slower compared to last year,” she said.

Toys are collected throughout the weeks leading up to Christmas, and are distributed to children referred by their teachers from participating schools.

If a child is referred, his or her siblings are also given gifts.

Each teacher is given five referral forms.

“They see the kids everyday; they know what the situation is,” Muñoz-Rios said.

Children who are not in school are sometime referred by community workers.

According to Muñoz-Rios, 22 individual schools are participating this year.

This number is an increase from last year, reflecting the addition of schools from the Lindsay area for the first time.

The deadline for toy collection in time for their distribution dates at local schools is Dec. 11; donation boxes will be collected that weekend.

Even so, Muñoz-Rios said the program will still accept toys “until the last minute.”

“It’s kind of sad,” she said about the reduction in donations so far.

Approximately 1,500 toys are ready to be handed to school children in the coming weeks.

According to Muñoz-Rios, about 4,000 children — “the equivalent of 8,000 toys” — received Toys for Tots gifts in the Porterville area during the 2008 Christmas season.

In addition to the donation barrels and boxes, a few final events will assist the Toys for Tots program by encouraging toy donations.

As the annual Children’s Christmas Parade makes its way down Main Street beginning 7 p.m., Thursday, Toys For Tots will be participating in the parade and accepting toy donations along the parade route.

Donation boxes will be present at the following events:

Rollin’ Relics Car Club: Car cruise night and toy drive at 5 p.m., Dec. 4, at the Pizza Factory.

Nasty Habits Car Club: Car show and toy drive from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Dec. 6, at the Pizza Factory.

Sierra View District Hospital: Chamber of Commerce monthly mixer, 5:30 p.m., Dec. 10.

-- Contact Sarah de Crescenzo at 784-5000, Ext. 1045, or sdecrescenzo@portervillerecorder.com.