76th year that Marine Corp Reserve has made Christmas bright for kids
By Jim Beers
CHESTER – The Randolph County Marine Corp Reserve has done it again. For the 76th year in-a-row they have made Christmas much brighter for Randolph County area children with their Toys for Tots program.
Volunteers pack gift bags for 638 Randolph County Children as part of the 2023 Randolph County Marine Reserve Toys for Tots Campaign. Jim Beers Photo
John C. Peston, Assistant Coordinator for the Randolph County Marine Corp Reserve said, “This is our 76th year for conducting Toys for Tots. For every dollar that is donated, 97 cents goes towards purchasing toys for the children that are accepted for the respective programs each year.”
“This year we were able to provide gifts for a total of 638 kids. Each recipient receives a toy valued at $35.00, stocking-stuffers, books, and a supplemental toy provided by the Foundation.”
Toys for Tots organizers pose for a photo during the Day 2 activities of bagging gifts for 638 Randolph County Children. Pictured (left to right) are Brent and Pam Piel of Prairie, Illinois. Pam is the Randolph County Toys for Tots Coordinator and Brent is the Randolph County Marine Corp League Commander. In the middle are Lee and Farida Hollaway, Chester Toys for Tots Coordinators. On the right are John and Norma Preston of Red Bud. John is the Randolph County Assistant Toys for Tots Coordinator. Jim Beers Photo
Toys are paired to the kids relating to age, gender and their wish list. A lot of individual consideration goes into creating the gift bags for the kids. Overall the project averages 2.5 children per family, some more and some less.
The 2023 Christmas program served 344 boys and 294 girls. That represents 250 different families and 638 children. Ages of recipient ranged from 7 months to 14 years of age. All but a few exceptions were Randolph County children.
The breakdowns of distribution per city are:
Chester (60 families, 156 children)
Rockwood (1 family, 2 children)
Sparta (64 familes, 175 children)
Coulterville (13 families, 39 children)
Tilden (8 families, 17 children)
Red Bud (29 families, 67 children)
Baldwin (15 families, 36 children)
Ruma (3 families, 10 children)
Steeleville (11 families, 25 children)
Percy (13 families, 33 children)
Cutler (5 families, 12 children)
Willisville (1 family, 2 children)
Evansville (12 families, 32 children)
Ellis Grove (2 families, 5 children)
Walsh (1 family, 1 child)
Rocher (10 families, 23 children)
Fults (none)
Modoc (none)
Campbell Hill (1 family, 2 children)
Renault (1 family, 1 child)
Local Toys for Tots Campaign Coordinators include, Pam Piel, from Prairie Illinois, Randolph County Coordinator; Brent Piel, Randolph County Marine Corp League Commander; Lee and Farida Hollaway, Chester Toys for Tots Coordinators; John and Norma Preston of Red Bud. John is the Assistant Randolph County Toys for Tots Coordinator.
Volunteers unload and organize hundreds of toys that were donated from Randolph County citizens for the 2023 Randolph County Marine Corp Toys for Tots Campaign. Gifts were organized by age, gender and type in preparation for filling gift lists the next day. There were 638 gift bags prepared for Randolph County children. Jim Beers Photo
Volunteers from across Randolph County get together on the first weekend in December to collect all of the donated gifts from donation boxes across the area. This usually takes place on Friday. Gifts are taken to the American Legion in Chester where they are unloaded and sorted according to age, gender, etc.
Saturday the gift lists are filled by the city locations, bagged, and loaded to vehicles that deliver to distribution sites in Randolph County.
Volunteers sort and categorize hundreds of various gifts on Day 1 of the 2023 Marine Corp Reserve Toys for Tots Campaign. The gifts were then organized by gender, age, and type so that Day 2 volunteers could shop for recipients to fill their Christmas list needs. Jim Beers Photo
Sunday, recipients pick up their children’s gift bags at the respective distribution centers in their city or area.
This process actually begins immediately after the Sunday distribution of gifts each year. Donations start arriving very soon after Christmas and continue to arrive until the pick-up day the following year.
Some coordinators have extremely crowded basements and storage areas throughout the year. The entire process is extremely time consuming and requires the voluntary assistance from many people. The payoff is always worth it according to Toys for Tots volunteers and Coordinators.
Lee Hollaway, Chester Co-Coordinator, (with his wife Farida), said,
“The 2023 program was very successful. We even had some late arrivals requesting to be included in the project so we really might have taken care of roughly 650 children.”
“The volunteers that work so hard on Fridays and Saturdays of the project are the ones who really make this thing work. Without them and their dedication, we couldn’t get the job done. I really want them to know that we appreciate them and their assistance. We will be back in 2024 with the 77th Marine Corp Reserve Toys for Tots program!