Campaign served more than ever this year, but needs fixed location
Gilmer County’s 2022 Toys for Tots campaign provided Christmas presents to more children than in any previous year, but the future of the annual U.S. Marines-led toy drive is uncertain due, in part, to how big it’s become.
This year’s Toys for Tots effort brought 7,081 toys, 15,480 stocking stuffers and almost 1,800 books to 1,742 local children, confirmed Ret. U.S. Marine Sgt. A.J. LeCompte, Gilmer Toys for Tots coordinator.
When the drive first got started here 13 years ago, the number of children it served was somewhere in the 200s, LeCompte noted.
“This was the most toys, stocking stuffers and books we’ve ever handed out in (all) the years we’ve operated this all-volunteer campaign in Gilmer County,” he added. “This year, we (also) had more volunteers who helped than in any previous year. The ones who really enjoy volunteering usually come back each year, but this year we also had a lot of new ones.”
Several Gilmer residents received Toys for Tots assistance for the first time in 2022, LeCompte noted. Applications were accepted from Oct. 31 till the last day of toy distribution, Thursday, Dec. 22.
“We don’t keep track of the names, but we do run them through Charity Tracker, and a lot of them had never been in Charity Tracker before. Last year, we had 1,587. I don’t know of any other reasons (for the increase) except the economy and that we were in a location where we were more visible this year,” said LeCompte.
“We processed the applications every week and distributed the toys every Monday for nine Mondays. The last day was the Thursday before Christmas. Because we didn’t want to have people drive in that bad weather, we took applications right up to the 22nd and went ahead and filled them. We still had toys in stock, so we were (able to) do that,” he added.
‘Struggled to find a place’
The local Toys for Tots campaign, which LeCompte said has become a year-round effort, is usually headquartered in a vacant building donated for temporary use by its owners. Because of that, there has been a lot of moving around over the years.
“We’ve struggled every year to find a place,” said LeCompte.
This year, LeCompte received permission from the county to use a space inside the Gilmer Civic Center formerly used by the Boys and Girls Club (which has changed locations) for the drive’s headquarters. That allowed for not only more visibility for the charitable campaign, but also better storage and distribution of toys, he noted.
“We doubled our amount of furniture this year, things like shelving and tables. We were in a large enough place to handle that, and we knew we were going to have an influx of people requesting toys. We had donations of so much furniture, there’s no way I can put it anywhere now,” said LeCompte.
With that growth, LeCompte has been trying to nail down a permanent Toys for Tots location with climate control, which he said prevents mildew and other conditions that might damage stored toys.
“In the past, when we’ve tried to store the toys in a non-climate controlled space, they’ve always mildewed and we had to discard them,” he added.
LeCompte recently presented a petition with 1,045 signatures to the Gilmer County Commissioners asking them to allow Toys for Tots to use the Civic Center space year-round, but was not given permission to do so.
Commission Chairman Charlie Paris said he’s sympathetic to the need for a fixed Toys for Tots location, but the space being used for this year’s drive was a temporary agreement from the start. County offices were already planned for that part of the Civic Center, and those plans were delayed to let Toys for Tots use the space till after Christmas, he noted.
Paris said, if the space was available, there would be another issue if the county provided it to one charity and not to others.
“I can’t get into a situation where I’m picking one good cause and giving them permanent space and refusing it to others,” he added. “Toys for Tots is a wonderful thing, and we’re tickled to death to have them here. I’m not disparaging them at all. They do a tremendous service for the people here. It’s just that I don’t have the space to give them without seriously upending the county’s ability to provide services.”
LeCompte is still searching for a donated, climate-controlled space where furniture, toys and other things used for the drive can be kept year-round. If one can’t be found, there may not be a Toys for Tots campaign here this Christmas, he noted.
“We’ve gotten to a point where we feel we’re not really adapting to the needs we have here, and we’re not going to continue it if we don’t have a climate-controlled space to keep the toys, gift wrap and all of that. Because we have no other location to move to, all the furniture and leftover toys would have to be liquidated, and the (local campaign) would not exist in future years,” said LeCompte.