Toys for Tots Charlotte to deliver donations despite major roadblocks

Erika Jackson
·1 min read

U.S Marine Lt. Col. Joshua Edwards with Toys for Tots Charlotte said his team refused to let anything interrupt their mission this holiday season.

Thousands of kids are now going to wake up to gifts under the Christmas tree this year thanks to your donations.

In September, Toys for Tots Charlotte had to find a new building to house its donations.

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Staff members found a vacant school to store the donations a month later than usual.

The community stepped up by donating 30,000 toys to those in need.

The donations will help 20 nonprofits in addition to 2,000 families.

“The two times I’ve done interviews with Channel 9, they helped put the word out there,” Edwards said.

“We got a lot of feedback from the community,” said Staff Sgt. Scott Bowen. “A lot of people (are) willing to volunteer and help, so that helped us out tremendously this year.”

Volunteers packed up and loaded the donations onto trucks this week.

Bowen was anticipating collecting 200,000 toys this year.

However, he said Toys for Tots Charlotte had to pay rent for the first time this year, which used up about one-third of its budget.