Marines provide gifts for local children

By Carrie A. Mizell

An 8-year-old girl will wake up on Christmas morning and find a new game, kickball, wooden toy, stuffed animal and stocking, all courtesy of the Toys for Tots program.
Local members of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve work to raise money each year to buy toys for disadvantaged children in Gilchrist, Levy and Dixie counties.
According to Pat Arcadi, co-coordinator of the Tri-County Toys for Tots, 400 to 500 children living in Trenton and Bell receive toys for Christmas courtesy of Toys for Tots.
“It’s a big team effort,” Arcadi said.

A host of volunteers make the Toys for Tots distribution possible. Local volunteers included
Marjorie Henley, Mike Harrell, Bill Cummings, Bill Malbradone, Ted Henley, Imogene McLeod,
Charles Bryant, Vince Arcadi, Pat Arcadi, Shirley Harrell, Helen Floyd,
Maxine Cummings and Anita Bryant...just to name a few!

Of the 28 total volunteers, 12 were in Trenton on December 14 for the Gilchrist County distribution, which was held at Trenton United Methodist Church.
A line of anxious parents waited in line for their turn to shop for toys at the distribution. Once inside the fellowship hall, parents were asked to provide a driver’s license, or other form of picture identification listing their home address as being in Gilchrist, Levy or Dixie counties.
Once they checked in, parents were assigned a Toys for Tots volunteer who walked along the aisles, assisting as parents browsed the 28 racks set up for the occasion and stocked with an array of toys.
Parents began filling out Toys for Tots applications in October. Arcadi explained that if an individual already receives social services or food stamps then they would automatically qualify for Toys for Tots. Volunteers who handled qualifying also accepted an applicant’s check stubs from one month of work. If the stubs showed their income at a certain level, then they too qualified for Toys for Tots.
“With the economy being so bad, we saw an increase in the number of applicants this year,” Arcadi said. “We also had more people wanting us to deliver toys to them, because they said gas was too expensive to go out. We don’t deliver toys.”
Parents had the opportunity to pick out five to six age appropriate toys for each child in their household. The gifts ranged from a stocking filled with small toys to a stuffed animal.
Prior to distributing toys in Gilchrist County, the volunteers worked in Bronson at the Levy County distribution on December 13 and were in Cross City at the Dixie County distribution on December 16.
Between the three distribution sites, volunteers estimate that nearly 2,300 local children were given Christmas presents thanks to the Toys for Tots program.