Toys for Tots kicks off Stone Mountain holiday toy drive

And so if you've looked at the calendar, you know, today is exactly two weeks away from Thanksgiving. And that means Christmas is, what, maybe six, seven weeks away. So we're getting pretty close to the holidays. And with the countdown on, Toys for Tots is kicking off its effort to help put presents under the tree for kids in need. And our Chris Rosenthal is at the kickoff today in Stone Mountain. Chris, good to see you. Tell us all about this and how people can help. Yeah, good to see you too, Tyler. Yeah, so the kickoff is today for Toys for Tots. We've already got toys being loaded here, volunteers from Pure Talk over here. They are loading up the toys, and toys have already been distributed, about 87,000 so far. But today we had a proclamation from the governor, the Toys for Tots day here, Commemorating all the wonderful work that that they do here for Toys for Tots, as we get ready to get these toys ready for all the children here in the Metro Atlanta area here at the warehouses for Toys for Tots. And I have Colonel Lewis here, and tell me a little bit about, you know, what does this mean here? This is the very beginning, huh? So yes, today's the kickoff here in the new warehouse here in Stone Mountain. We have, I think you already mentioned Our Pure Talk volunteers are here today. This is the beginning of it all. It's going to be a frenzied flurry for the next couple months. We rely on volunteers like this to do the heavy lifting and do all the sorting. And we welcome anybody to sign up. It's a great way to give. It's a great way to serve the Marine Corps and all of our veterans love service. And we invite everybody to come join us. Absolutely. There is that tie to service. If anybody understands, you guys do. And if people want to join, what can they do? What sort of opportunities are there? And how can they do so? Hey, great question. So there's always the opportunity to donate toys. The foundation also accepts cash gifts that go towards some of the other programs. I'm told that on 5 December, Publix will begin receiving toys, so please take some toys there. If you're a small organization or a large organization, you're also welcome to collect and bring here to the warehouse for us. Probably the best way to serve would be to sign up and bring a group of volunteers here to pick and pack and sort and load toys to those who are going to come pick up the toys. up toys to distribute. Yeah, volunteers like these volunteers from Pure Talk and Home Depot Foundation, they were out here earlier and they're going to be out here all season here with an army of volunteers donating and helping out, giving some manpower. Takes a lot of manpower to do this, huh? It is manpower intensive and it's a logistics challenge, but we're a logistics regiment and we've got Ms. Kelly Wilson, who's a logistics professional, helping us sort through all of that. But yes, it's a lot of work. It's a lot of effort. But it's absolutely worth it. Is it rewarding? Very much. Thank you very much. The thought of a young American getting a lift on Christmas is... Pretty special. Absolutely. Are there certain age groups that you need, or certain kinds of toys that you guys need? Well, we're looking for anything between ages 2 to 12 primarily, and as we go further through the season, we'll get a better sense of what we're short. On the kickoff today, anything from ages 2 to 12. All right, thank you so much for joining us. I'll be here throughout the day here at the kickoff here. All these toys coming in here, being funneled in. Big, big donations. We have about 1,200 or so toys coming out of this truck right here being donated and ready for all of the boys and girls out there for the holidays. And also, you know, if you're in need, they say you can reach out to 2-1-1. and see about donation events if you are somebody that might need some of these toys here. So their goal is a million toys by the 21st of December. So it looks like they're well on their way, but of course you can bring donations too on December 5th, starting December 5th at any Publix store. Sure. Yeah, certainly well on their way but a lot more needed. Chris Rosenthal, thanks so much for showing us at their little warehouse, showing around that little warehouse there and all what they need. And hopefully folks watching today can be able to help make it possible and make a Christmas for some kids in need in our area. Chris Rosenthal, thanks so much. We'll check in with you a little later on this afternoon.