Posted on 12/13/2012 9:39:05 AM PST by Brandonmark
Thousands of area children might go without toys this holiday season thanks to a Grinch-like move from the Postal Service.
Normally this time of year, boxes of gifts pack the Toys for Tots warehouses. But not this season. Toy donations are so low, Toys for Tots officials worry they won't have enough gifts for the estimated 40,000 boys and girls on their lists.
'I'm losing sleep,' said Herb Donica, chairman of the committee that supports the Toys for Tots campaign in Hillsborough County. 'All of our core people are pulling their hair out wondering what we are going to do.'' The post office may have saved the day inA Miracle on 34th Street , but Donica says it crippled this year's Toys for Tots campaigns.
Every year, the charity partners with the Postal Service for a Letter Carriers Toy Drive in early December. Residents leave toys at their mailboxes, and letter carriers collect them.
To promote the event, the post office has delivered for free a flier with the details. For years, about 2 million have been mailed to households in Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco, each with their own Toys for Tots campaigns run by the U.S. Marines Corps, reservists and civilian supporters.
About a month before this year's drive, charity officials got word that the Postal Service would no longer distribute the flier. Local postal officials had been using a permit for official Postal Service business to deliverthe flier without postage. But this year, in light of the postal service's financial problems, officials wouldn't allow it.
The change sent Toys For Tots scrambling. They took out a few ads, including inThe Flyer, the advertising mailer that in recent years printed the toy drive fliers for free. But the efforts weren't enough.
(Excerpt) Read more at tbteedition.tampabay.com ...
While I hate organized poverty and organized charity, I too do my charitable work on my own. I usually know the circumstances of the people I help.
I always ask God to put people in my path and He is very obliging that way.
You are far from boasting.
I consider it “cluing others in” to something that flies below the radar for many. Someone not having much at Christmas is a hard subject to face. And even when we do face it in the form of the Salvation Army pot outside of Walmart, or “Santa’s Helpers” on the local news stations, and more on a personal level with what you do, it is easily forgotten with our own families to worry over.
It’s good to have reminders like yours. You did not ask for it, but I will say it: Thank you. I’m sure every child and parent you helped over the years is grateful.
I like your attitude. An uncle and aunt of mine raised three children and kept their family fed often with food they raised themselves. They had so little money that they used baking soda and salt for toothpaste, yet they made certain that all three of their offspring finished college with graduate degrees. That must have been a very motivational upbringing because all three of my cousins are now members of that despised group, the wealthy. The daughter, who learned how to sew from her mom, has her own clothing business. The oldest son made a fortune in real estate and the other son is a high priced corporate lawyer. I once asked the oldest one why he bought properties. He said that when he was a kid he would hear his dad and mine say "If only we had bought that land for $10 an acre in 1935, we'd be rich today." He determined he was never going to have to say that.
“However, I cannot understand why ANY child would NOT receive at least a modest gift from parents or guardians.”
Mostly because many of these children do not have “parents” and the kids are looked at only as a meal ticket. How many single “units”(I can’t bring myself to call it a parent) have you seen out there with their hair colored and coifed, nails done, free phone and driving vehicles much newer than ours?
God bless you, Sir. You have learned (and by example, taught) the real meaning of Christmas!
Tea and Skittles.
The 53% spend 25% to more than 50% of their working life working as a tax slave for the government.
The 47% spend ZERO time working for or contributing to the "common good".
Talk about not contributing their "fair share"!
Life is as much or more about time as it is about money. The ones who vote socialist need to be contributing MUCH more of their time if they want it to work at least for the rest of their dependent lives.
I do find it ironic that in the movie Miracle On 34th Street, it's the USPS that comes to the defense of Santa Clause. Nowadays, not so much.
-PJ
To all who replied, thank you. I posted it to show there are lots of kids who don’t get toys from TOYS FOR TOTS, etc. for Christmas. We think it’s covered by all the charities but sometimes that’s just not enough.
We only went public one time when a radio station interviewed us but we didn’t give our names. By doing that the entire town started bringing gifts and even Walmart donated $3,000. Instead of a few kids getting gifts, the lady we had taken our gifts to said they had gifts for every needy kid in the county and money left over for the next year.
Like I said, it sure makes me look forward to Christmas every year. This year we didn’t have much to spend. And that sucks since this year there’ll be a lot of kids who won’t get anything. Hopefully they won’t grow up hating Christmas.
Oh, and by the way. Since I’m a conservative I’m also a bigot. Or, so I’ve been told.
Just sent you a private message. Hope I’m not overstepping my bounds.
What is the point of a monopoly advertising anyway?
Well, they advertise food stamps, so I’ll give up in advance
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