The U.S. Marine Corps’ annual Toys for Tots toy drive will continue to collect new, unwrapped toys for underprivileged children until Dec. 15, according to Londonderry Town Clerk/ Tax Collector Assistant Christie Campbell.
“I’ve been doing this seven years or longer,” she said. “The Army National Guard on Hovey Road is my contact, and every year in mid October we contact them and they have the boxes ready and we put them out the last week of November. It finishes up Dec. 15, so they can organize the donations and get them ready to distribute.”
Campbell said the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts will often go to the armory on Hovey Road and help with organizing of the toys.
The toys must be unwrapped so they can be distributed by age. “Obviously we want new toys, we don’t want a child to get hand-me-downs at Christmas,” Campbell said.
She said the age range of the children goes up to age 12.
The boxes for Toys for Tots donations at Town Hall were full last Friday and were sent on to the Marines. Now the newly emptied boxes are starting to be refilled once again.
“The fire department collects toys 24 hours a day because there’s always someone there,” Campbell added.
Donations of toys for the Toys for Tots program can be made at Town Hall during normal business hours and at the Central Fire Station 24 hours a day.