Tupelo Toys for Tots keeps Santa Claus alive for kids in need
Dec. 14—TUPELO — Christmas can be a difficult time for families struggling to make ends meet. After all, it's hard to tell your kids the story of Santa Claus when Santa brings gifts to other people's families, but not your own.
There's where Toys for Tots comes in to help families in need keep Santa alive for their kids.
Charles Gilmore runs the nonprofit organization's Tupelo Chapter — which covers the counties of Alcorn, Chickasaw, Clay, Itawamba, Lee, Lowndes, Monroe, Oktibbeha, Prentiss and Tishomingo. It's a role he relishes along with many others, including being an Army veteran, an insurance agent, an associate pastor, and a local shelter agent with a background in marketing.
In a way, having worked in such a broad set of fields has helped prepare Gilmore for his work with Toys for Tots.
"I am the face, I am the (head of publicity), I am the organizer, the fundraiser, and I am Santa Claus slash elf," Gilmore told the Daily Journal. "I do everything."
Gilmore took over the chapter after the former lead coordinator, Charles Adkins, retired from the position in June. Last Christmas season, octogenarian Adkins, his wife, and maybe five or six other people distributed about 3,000 toys to more than 1,400 children.
"I'm trying to make sure that Mr. Atkins' legacy still lives" even after he's retired, Gilmore said.
Founded in 1947 by Marine Corps Reserve Maj. Bill Hendricks, Toys for Tots is a nonprofit run by the U.S. Marine Corps with a goal of collecting and delivering toys to children in need.
Earlier this week, Gilmore was in the middle of going around to donation sites and picking up toys. His major donors include: the Amory School District, the prekindergarten through third grade of which has donated 1,150 toys; Marco's Pizza and Ollie's Bargain Outlet in Corinth; Airbus (formerly Eurocopter) and 4-County Electric Power in Columbus; JESCO in Fulton; Color My World Child Care, Estes Express Lines, the Family Resource Center of Northeast Mississippi, the Gumtree Woodworkers Club (which has donated more than $1,000 worth of toys out of their own pockets and club money), JESCO, the Kiwanis Club, Renasant Bank in partnership with the Tupelo Police Department, Ollie's Bargain Outlet, and Orkin in Tupelo; and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Of those, his top donors are Airbus, JESCO and 4-County.
Once all the toys are collected, volunteers will help Gilmore sort them by gender and age group.
"It's going to take a lot of people; it's going to take a lot of time," Gilmore said. "I love the chaos."
Families submit applications to receive donations from Toys for Tots. Once all the applications are in and printed out, Gilmore uses them to get a headcount of all the kids he'll be sending toys to, broken down by age group and gender. Then, he and his volunteers divide the toys among the kids in the given subgroups.
Toys for Tots is focused on kids ages 0-12, but if a household receiving donations has a teen, Gilmore tries to ensure that the teen gets some gifts as well.
The toys for each family are packaged together, and then those bags are sent out with volunteers for delivery to the recipients.
When parents receive the toys for their kids, they can "go home and wrap it and feel like they have a sense of this, that they're not getting hand-me-downs; they're providing for their kids," Gilmore said.
A number of different people and organizations have come together to help Gilmore in his work with Toys for Tots, he said, including folks from Absolute Cleaning & Restoration in Tupelo, Amory Main Street Inc., D'Casa in Tupelo, Forward Church in Amory, King'sGate Worship Center in Tupelo, the North Mississippi Medical Center, and Transport Trailer Services in Tupelo.
What Gilmore enjoys most about being part of Toys for Tots is that he's helping people.
"At the end of the day, I know when I lay my head down on the pillow at night ... I made a difference to somebody's life," he said.
Addie covers education and general news for the Daily Journal. Contact her at addie.davis@journalinc.com.
