Monday, December 09, 2013

Toys for Tots! 750 Toys!

Not long ago our Sunday School Superintendent, Tanya, had a grand idea of raising money for


Actually, she shared with our congregation the fact that she had been one of those kids who benefited from that program when she was a child. I think that meant a lot to everyone.

So, the plan was put into place.

First, we had a fundraiser. She asked the kids (and their families) to start by getting cookie jars and then filling them up with homemade cookies. After church that week-end, we held an auction. Each kid stood up when their cookies were to be auctioned off, sometimes talking a bit about their cookies. It was not the kind of auction where you try to get a good deal. It was a fundraiser, after all.

Mike doesn't really "do" auctions so it was up to me to do the bidding. It was pretty fun. Toward the end, though, I was bidding on some cookies. Sometimes I bid just to get it going. I'd set our limit before the auction so I knew my limit was $80 for that batch. I thought I was in good shape until some guy across the room started bidding. It was Mike! People thought it was pretty funny so we kept it up a bit, bidding against each other. I did go a bit over budget but it was worth it.

ANYWAY, our smallish Sunday School raised over $5,000 with those cookies!

Part two of the plan happened yesterday morning. Tanya had arranged for the kids and their parents to come on a grand shopping spree at KMart. Since Toys for Tots is a Marine program, there were a couple of Marines there in uniform to assist. I thought that made it even more exciting for the kids.


Cordy gave a salute to one of them. It was adorable! It looked more like she was checking her temperature, but it was very cute.

I couldn't imagine how this was all going to work. Luckily, I wasn't in charge. Tanya had it all worked out. Each child got a shopping basket and 30 minutes to spend $230 on toys! Yep, $230 EACH! I carried Elise while Maria and Eric helped Cordelia. She took her job quite seriously and thoughtfully, as did all the kids. There was a lot of JOY at our KMart today!

Cordelia was allowed to check out first. She put her share of the toys up on the counter herself.


Then posed for me, along with her family.


This sweet girl is one of the students in our high school class. She was so patient and won the honor of being last in line. I bet she waited 45 minutes to an hour!


When all was said and done, those kids had purchased more than 750 toys!

Yes, 750 toys!
Can you imagine?

The kids all had such fun and I am certain
they were proud to be a part of something
so special.

Great job, Tanya!



4 comments:

Michelle said...

Wonderful!

Mom said...

I was going to say "Wonderful!" but Michelle already did. Oh well, it was wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Looks like it was lots of fun, and a good project of thoughtfulness...God bless you one and all...

Unknown said...

I hope you applied to Thrivent for matching funds. Good project!

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