Toys for Tots raises cutoff age to 17; donations now open

This Christmas season will be a whole lot brighter for many Hood County teens, thanks to the local chapter of Toys for Tots.

For the past seven years, the Toys for Tots Hood-Somervell-Parker chapter has collected and distributed toys for children up to the age of 13.

But this year, Julie Hale, Toys for Tots coordinator for the Marine Corps League, has decided to raise the cutoff age in the toy distribution from 13 to 17.

“So, 13 was locally imposed only and we have the upper limit at 17 on the national program,” she explained. “Some organizations cut it back because it's really hard to provide for those older kids. Well, I've just seen far too many needs at that upper level, so I just said, ‘If they're going to allow me to go to 17, let's blow the doors off and go to 17.’”

Toys for Tots is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year from when it began in 1947.

“It was initiated by the wife of a base commander who saw a need and began delivering handmade dolls to children in her area,” Hale said. “It was a grassroots local effort that was quickly adopted nationwide and made an official duty of the USMC Reserve. Although it's a big national program, 75 years later we are still a local effort — local people donate through the local office to support children in their immediate area. I think it's pretty remarkable in my world that the majority of the people who are working on this are not military, but we were led by our military counterpart because they own it, and they can provide us with the leadership that we need.”

THE RIGHT TOYS

Hale said she’s aware that finding gifts for the older kids will be difficult but is determined to try to provide for them.

"Yeah, we're going to be struggling to get toys, and yeah, we're going to be ordering toys at the last minute, but we're going to make it happen,” she said.

For the older kids, Hale recommends gifting age-appropriate items like hygiene kits, flat and curling irons, shaving sets and nail kits.

“I don't expect anybody to buy a $500 set, but there are sets out there that are catered towards the older children,” she said.

One of the reasons Hale made the decision to raise the cutoff age to 17 is due to the financial need she’s seen locally.

In 2021, Hale said the local Toys for Tots chapter served 3,500 kids — and she expects that number to reach as high as 7,000 this year.

“The last check that I did, I was just shy of 3,000 kids, and I don't have (the list of kids in need from) Mission Granbury or Neighbors Helping Neighbors out of Weatherford yet,” she said. “If we're not at 7,000 kids or right at it, it'll surprise me.”

Toys for Tots provides each child with two large gift-quality toys ($25 value each) and stocking stuffers. Hale said she has set a goal of collecting a total of 21,000 toys this year.

“Three years ago, 6,000 was our goal,” Hale said. “But we've really grown the program. More people see us, recognize us and remember us, so that causes donations. But that also causes requests, so I think because of those two factors, we'll post nearly 7,000 children this year.”

Community members can drop off new, unwrapped toys at more than 80 locations in Granbury, Glen Rose and Weatherford.

Some of the participating businesses in Granbury include the Hood County News, Granbury Visitor Center, Stonewater Church and Kroger Marketplace. A complete list of drop-off locations can be found online at granbury-tx.toysfortots.org.

The toys will be collected through Monday, Dec. 5, and will then be scheduled for distribution.

“We will go through two types of distributions,” Hale said. “We will go into the distributions that are regularly scheduled and then we'll go into those emergency case distributions where you get a phone call that somebody's house just burned to the ground two days before Christmas. We're not going to leave those kids without. We're going to reach out to the people that have had those last-minute tragedies and make sure that they’re covered.”

‘WHAT WE DO’

Hale said her "big thing" is to enable parents to take care of their children.

"Those kids, they're not going to remember this Christmas versus last Christmas, or 10 Christmases from now, but those parents are going to remember that they weren't able to do much for their kids,” she said. “But that’s what we do.”

Hale — who has deep roots in the organization with her 87-year-old mother, Cleta Parks — said it wouldn’t be Christmas with her family if they weren’t volunteering with Toys for Tots.

“It's humbling to be the point person,” she said. “The community associates my name with the program because I'm all over social media and at most of the events, but I'm just the coordinator who brings several volunteers, community donors and recipients together. The magic happens when those people are brought together, and I'm the lucky person who brings them together."

For more information, visit granbury-tx.toysfortots.org or contact Hale at granbury.tx@toysfortots.org or 682-386-9750.

“It's truly a passion project of mine,” Hale added. “It's pretty cool to be able to be the person who gives the community a way to give; that's a pretty cool spot to be.”