Thank You! Great Toy Drop For Toys for Tots 2019

FOX 5 Atlanta wants to thank you for coming out to the Great Toy Drop Saturday, Dec. 7. and helping us collecting toys for Toys For Tots.

The annual event was held this year at the Highland Plaza Publix located at the corner of Sandy Plains and Shallowford roads in Marietta. Toys For Tots hasn’t gotten a chance to count how much was collected, but it helped to make a dent in the need across metro Atlanta.

Every year, Santa gets a big boost in the metro Atlanta area thanks to Toys For Tots. The Atlanta chapter is the largest campaign in the nationwide organization.

"It is. It's large. It encompassed the whole greater Atlanta area that we're helping out," said Col. Michael Varicak, U.S. Marine Corps Commanding Officer. "Our goal is to try to fill every request we receive."

The U.S. Marine Corp heads the donation drive which has worked to bring toys to families in need for nearly 71 years.

Every year, they are tasked with collecting, inventorying, listing recipients, and distributing more than 900,000 toys in only 25 operating days to nearly a half a million children.

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For those who have never donated before, this is a great year to start.

"I'd tell them if they like to be a part of an organization that helps children that might be going through a less fortunate circumstance, so they can share the join of Christmas with that family," Col. Varick.

FOX 5 Helping Hands is once again teamed up with Publix, the Marine Corps Reserve, United Way, PepsiCo, and Q100 to help Toys For Tots in their efforts to collect new, unwrapped toys.

Each Publix in metro Atlanta will have a dropbox inside their store where donations can be made.

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The FOX 5 Atlanta team was out in full force at the Highland Plaza Publix located at the corner of Sandy Plains Road and Shallowford Road in Marietta Saturday for the Great Toy Drop. Tons of FOX 5 Atlanta viewers, friends, and members of the community stopped by to donate, meet the team, and even took some selfies, all for a good cause.

The Toys For Tots organization is made up completely of volunteers. Anyone who would like to give their time sorting toys or would like to volunteer their business as a drop site can find out more by clicking here.

For information on how to be placed on Toys For Tots’ list to be distributed to, call 211 or click here.

To learn more about the Toys For Tots Atlanta campaign click here.