JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. –
The Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Virginia community participated in the Toys for Tots donation drive during this holiday season from Nov. 8 – Dec. 5, 2018.
U.S. Service members, civilians and families from JBLE donated over 6,600 toys for the Marine Toys for Tots program this year and finished off the donation campaign with a run on Dec. 6, 2018.
The Toys for Tots program was created in 1947 by U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Bill Hendricks. The first donation drive consisted of Hendricks and his unit donating 5,000 toys to children in the Los Angeles, California area.
One U.S. Army Soldier from Charlie Company, 222nd Aviation Regiment, 1st Battalion, 128th Avn. Brigade donated over $1,000 worth of toys this year.
U.S. Army Pvt. Ian Smith, Advanced Individual Training student, was directly impacted by a similar gesture when he was a child that changed his perspective on giving back.
“When I was about eight years old, my parents got divorced and my mom couldn’t afford to take care of two kids and a dog,” Smith said. “We went a long time where we didn’t know where our next meal was coming from.”
As that time in his life continued, Smith’s father came back and started spending time with him, which consisted mostly of, going to Walmart for up to eight hours a day just looking at everything in the store.
“During one of the many trips to Walmart with my dad during this time, I was staring at a new nerf gun that just came out,” Smith said. “There was a guy standing next me, I think he was getting one for his son, I guess he saw how much I wanted [the nerf gun] and he ended up buying it for me and a bunch of accessories and batteries to get me started. I wanted to be that person to give a toy to someone in that situation.”
Just as Smith was impacted when he was a young child by a giving stranger, the JBLE community donated toys for less fortunate children. The Marine Toys for Tots program distributes over 18 million toys to 7 million children annually.