Toys for Tots annual drive gets underway

SHEFFIELD — Toys for Tots volunteers began distributing dozens of donation boxes Oct. 3 as the annual drive was officially launched.

Marine Corps League Cpl. Matthew D Conley Detachment #1477 is now in its fifth year of managing the Toys for Tots program, which serves five counties in northwest Alabama including Franklin.

“October first we start putting out our boxes for local businesses,” Curtis Griffith said.

Last week, Griffith said volunteers distributed three large red, metal drop boxes that will be set in strategic locations around the Shoals so the public can make donations after businesses are closed.

One box is located outside Muscle Shoals Fire Station #1 at 1002 E. Avalon Ave. A second was placed outside the Marine Corps League headquarters at 215 S. Montgomery Ave. in Sheffield. The third was put in front of Ollie’s Bargain Outlet at 1700 Darby Drive in Florence “I’ve got a lot of people calling me wanting to know where all the boxes are,” Griffith said. “A lot of times businesses close at 5 p.m.”

Griffith said the three outdoor drop boxes allow people to drop off toys any time of day.

Another 165 cardboard drop boxes decorated with Toys for Tots graphics will be placed in businesses in Franklin, Colbert, Lauderdale, Marion and Winston counties.

Parents can register their children for the annual Toys for Tots distribution beginning Nov. 19 at the Marine Corps League headquarters.

Registration will end on Nov. 22, Griffith said.

To register, parents will need to supply photo identification, proof of residence, such as a utility bill, and a birth certificate and Social Security card for each child they want to register, Griffith said.

Griffith said last year, Toys for Tots assisted 572 families and 1,851 individual children in the fivecounty area.