Toy Drop-off
Every child should be able to smile during the holiday season. Please help make that happen by donating a gift to the Bismarck/Mandan Toys for Tots Foundation. You can drop off your donated toy(s) at any of the locations below from now until December 21st. For more information or to donate online go to Bismarck/Mandan's Toys For Tots website.
Receive Toys
If you are in need of receiving toys this holiday season, go to the Toys For Tots website to register.
Drop-off Locations
Advanced Physical Therapy
Aetna
Big Lots
Cottingham Insurance-810 E. Divide
Days Inn
Discover Health Chiropractic
Dress Barn
EAPC Architects Engineers-121 E Broadway Bismarck
Enrichment Garden - 107 West Main Ave Bismarck
Family Dollar- Bismarck and Mandan
Gateway Mall- Several boxes througout the mall
KFYR TV
Menards
Midway Lanes- Mandan
Old Navy
Rasmussen College
Kupper Chevrolet
Starion Financial
Texas Roadhouse
UPS
History of Toys for Tots
Toys for Tots began in 1947 when Major Bill Hendricks, USMCR and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children. The idea came from Bill's wife, Diane. In the fall of 1947, Diane handcrafted a Raggedy Ann doll and asked Bill to deliver the doll to an organization, which would give it to a needy child at Christmas. When Bill determined that no agency existed, Diane told Bill that he should start one. He did. The 1947 pilot project was so successful that the Marine Corps adopted Toys for Tots in 1948 and expanded it into a nationwide campaign. That year, Marine Corps Reserve units across the nation conducted Toys for Tots campaigns in each community in which a Marine Reserve Center was located. Marines have conducted successful nationwide campaigns at Christmas each year since 1948. The initial objective that remains the hallmark of the program today is to "bring the joy of Christmas to America's needy children." From Christmas 1980 through the present, Marines have collected and distributed only new toys.
In the late 1980s, the Marine Corps determined that a non-profit charity was needed as an integral part of the overall national Toys for Tots program. Based on this need, the Secretary of Defense, in August 1991, authorized the Marine Corps to recognize and work with a charity committed to supporting Toys for Tots. Based on this approval, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation became an operational organization in September 1991 and has been the fund raising and support organization for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program since that date.
In 1995, the Secretary of Defense approved Toys for Tots as an official activity of the U.S. Marine Corps and an official mission of the Marine Corps Reserve.
