LAFAYETTE, La. — Last year, the U.S. Marine Corps announced it was shutting down in Lafayette, so the Marine League which handles Toys for Tots doesn’t have a place to process toys, to spread them out, to see what they’ve got before they distribute them.
So, do you have a warehouse available? Have I got the people for you to call.
"We need an open warehouse facility approximately 2500 to 5000 square feet, big enough to let forklifts to come in to drop off pallets and what not,” says Commandant Tuyen La of the Lafayette-based Marine League.
The 'what not' and the pallets---- are primarily toys, brand-new unwrapped Christmas toys. “It’s part of a little program; you may have heard of it,” smiles La. “It’s a nationwide program based on three words: Toys. Kids. And Christmas.”
And typically, you guys give. in fact, the number of toys collected and distributed in Acadiana is pretty big. “About 16,000 that get distributed about every year,” fine-tunes La.
But the current storage space won't get it done. Marine League volunteers--- marines honorably discharged who want to give back-- need room to spread things out and figure out what toys need to go to which children.
And as wonderful as our storage facility is, the Marine League folks need a little more room to sort an estimated 16000 toys. “Correct,” agrees La. “We need more room and this isn't the proper facility for us to handle our operations. We’ll need it for about four months, until about early January. And it's tax-deductible.”
Even as the Marine Corps League looks for warehouse space, now is the time for businesses to become drop-off points for donations and for parents to sign up their families who can receive Christmas toys. The deadline for families to sign up is November 30th.
*(If you can assist the Marine Corps League with a Toys for Tots warehouse, call 337-255-1122).
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