On March 6th the Dixie Sunrise Rotary Club celebrated the launch of their satellite club, the Veterans Club of Southern Utah. The intent of this newly formed Rotary Club was to support Veterans. The club jumped right into the many requests from the community from helping with diapers, food to household repairs. The most recent service project the Veteran Club has become highly engaged with is Toys for Tots.
Founded in 1947 through the United States Marine Corps Reserves, the Toys for Tots program began with the collection of one Raggedy Ann doll that has turned into a national treasure. Today the Toys for Tots foundation distributes an average of 18 million toys to 7 million less fortunate children.
In 2005, Sgt. Rick Massey and the Marine Corps League #1270 brought the Toys for Tots home to St. George, Utah. With the recent passing of dear friend Sgt. Massey, a new director was hired, Pam Curtis. When Pam Curtis took over as the director, one of her first challenges was to find a location that would allow for storage, sorting and distribution of the children Christmas Gifts.
Conversation between Rotarians at a district conference in Hurricane turned up a relationship that proved to be the program’s salvation. Rotarian Allison McArthur said she had a relative, Jim McArthur, who may have some vacant space. He did and he generously donated it to the Toys for Tots for the time they needed to ensure a Merry Christmas for local disadvantaged youth. The Grinch lost again to a great combined effort by the Marine Corps League, the Veterans Rotary and other local Rotary Clubs, and a generous local family.
Toys for Tots takes community involvement to be successful. The Veterans Club of Southern Utah is proud to be part of this amazing program. Last year the local Toys for Toys efforts yielded 7,301 toys that were distributed to 2,531 children. We need your help…..please consider making a donation of toys or a financial donation to this amazing cause. There are over 100 toy drop boxes sprinkled all over the community. You can find a list of the drop locations on the Toys for Tots web site at st-george-ut.toysfortots.org
For more information on the Veterans Club of Southern Utah, please contact Doug Graham @ dgrahm@sunrivertoday.com