The Marine Corps Reserve has worked to brighten the holidays for children through its Toys for Tots program, putting toys into the hands of boys and girls whose families couldn’t otherwise afford to buy their children gifts for more than six decades.
“Verde Valley Toys for Tots is dedicated to providing a little Christmas to children in the Cottonwood, Camp Verde, Clarkdale, Rimrock, Beaver Creek, Jerome, Cornville areas, including the Yavapai-Apache Nation,” the organization stated.
“The objectives of Toys for Tots are to help less fortunate children throughout the United States experience the joy of Christmas,” reads the organization’s official mission statement. “To play an active role in the development of one of our nation’s most valuable resources — our children; to unite all members of local communities in a common cause for three months each year during the annual toy collection and distribution campaign; and to contribute to better communities in the future.”
For the past eight years, that effort has been headed up in the Verde Valley by Krys Vogler and a team of volunteers that collects toys at many locations for distribution.
To read the full story, see the Wednesday, Nov. 26, edition of The Camp Verde Journal.
