Toys for Tots!
9:52 AM Posted In cameron , Christmas , toys for tots 11 Comments »
I have been participating in the Toys for Tots program for many years. This year, Cameron is able to understand more about how he can make a difference in the lives of others (or at least I think he understands.)
Last year, in January, I hit up the Target after-Christmas toy clearance. If you don't know about this fabulous sale, you need to know about it! It's amazing. Target has to clear out their overstock so they mark down their toys by 75%. This makes for some AMAZING deals. Last year I stuffed two carts full of toys. I did this because we attend an obscene amount of birthday parties throughout the year, so I just stock up ahead of time.
Since it has been a year and I still had a closet full of toys that hadn't been given away, Cameron and I decided to donate them to our local fire department for the Toys for Tots drive. I explained to Cameron that there are many children who don't have a lot of toys to play with like he does and so it would be great for us to give them all of our unused toys for Christmas. He thought it was a great idea as well and said to me "We'll give them these toys for Christmas and they will be SOOOOOO happy...they'll say 'thank you sooooo much Cameron P!' "
So we packed up the entire back half of the suburban with toys. Not even kidding...TONS of toys. We headed over to the fire department and they buzzed us in. We were the first to drop off toys and they were so happy with our load! Cameron even got a little V.I.P. treatment.
Check out the shirt! One of the fireman asked when we were unloading the toys, "would you like to see a firetruck?" You should have seen Cameron's eyes light up!
Gabby got to check out the engines too.
Then we had to leave. Cameron was trying not to throw a fit about it. To my surprise, we were able to leave the fire station without having a complete meltdown.
On the way home Cameron kept telling me he missed his firemen. :)
He's already talking about going back next year to deliver more toys.
:)
Hope everyone is not stressing out too badly this holiday season!
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11 comments:
Thats so awesome Ree! Niello had an angel tree this year and I picked a girl who wanted art supplies. We also do Toys for Tots at all our dealerships!
That's fantastic! I LOVE that. What a great use for the Target sale, makes me think I need to do some cross border shopping for our Toys for Tots program because our after Christmas sales suck! We do the shoe boxes and Toys for Tots, the girls LOVE filling the shoe boxes, it's loads of fun. How fun for Cam to be able to check out all that fire station goodness!
Dallan has done Toys for Tots since joining the Marine Corps 9 years ago and its seriously one of the best things ever! There is something so touching about seeing these Marines interact with the children they deliver the toys to; its one of my most favorite things about being affiliated with the Corps. I'm glad Cameron had such a good time!
Awe, thats so sweet! I love teaching Sirene how to give back, and she loves knowing that she helped someone less fortunate. I always take my leftovers from the restaurant and give them to a homeless person on the walk home (god knows, there are many of them in SF) Sirene has caught on and loves doing it too. It's so cute to see her pack up her leftovers for them. Sometimes before we go into a restaurant, she even says "we should give that man our leftovers". Sometimes, if we have a few extra bucks, we buy a whole meal for them and take it to them. =)
What an awesome thing to do - I bet Cameron was excited about seeing the fire trucks.
Love G-Ma
That's so awesome! We've really been focusing on "giving" this year. I hope to make a positive difference in my kids lives.
Wonderful! I love that you involve the kids and are teaching them to give back. That will teach them appreciation for what they have and understanding for those who don't. His comment about Cameron P. is priceless.
Kelly Ritchie
That's awesome! "Thanks so much Cameron P!" LOL!! Kids are so funny. What a sweet thing to do, Sheree.
Very cute pictures of the Cam Man!
I think it's wonderful that he's already learning about giving and helping others at such a young age!
What a great idea! They will definitely say Thank you so much Cameron P! So cute!
What a great experience!
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