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Toys for Tots provides for 132 children

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Albany News

Parents who applied for Toys for Tots should have picked up their kids’ presents at the Youth Center this Wednesday.

“We sorted the gifts by families, and had them ready for parents to pick them up,” said Resource Care case worker Makenzie Marshall. “We don’t wrap them. We want the parents to be able to see what their kids are getting and for them to wrap the presents themselves.”

Marshall added that anyone who was unable to come by during the designated pick-up time can contact the Resource Center at 325-762-2447 to arrange to get their gifts.

“We were able to get three gifts for each child on my lists, and also a stocking stuffer,” said Marine SSgt. Doug Beaty, coordinator of the local Toys for Tots program. “Everything is completed; I dropped the toys off on Sunday.”

According to Beaty, Toys for Tots supplied Christmas gifts for 84 Albany kids and 48 children in Moran.

“Dollar General did great with their train box collection site,” Beaty said. “They made a Polar Express Train, and over 158 presents were donated there!”

Beaty was pleased with this year’s toy drive.

“Any time I can get a gift to each child, with none of them left out, I feel it was successful,” he said.

Beaty is still accepting donations of new, unwrapped toys and money at the various donations sites around Albany.

“I try to keep a little in reserve, in case we have a child or two added at the last minute, and I also like to have something available for emergency situations,” he said. “For example, recently four children lost everything in a house fire in Breckenridge and we were able to help them out.” 

Adopt-a-Senior

All 37 of the seniors served by Vittles by Vehicle will also get gifts this year.

“All of the seniors have been adopted!” Marshall reported on Tuesday. 

Adopt-a-Senior provides practical Christmas gifts such as cleaning supplies, bed sheets, and towels to the senior adults on the Vittles by Vehicle list.

Gifts for the seniors should be dropped off at the Resource Center by Wednesday, Dec. 19, so they can be wrapped before their delivery with the VBV meals on Friday, Dec. 21.