Toys for Tots Marathon Weekend to kick off this Friday
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- At a southeast Fresno warehouse, toys are already being sorted and distributed to different agencies in Fresno and Madera Counties.
"We have a potential permanent home," said Jessica Montano, the coordinator for Fresno Madera Toys for Tots. "This is the second year we are using this location. The owner's been great about letting us use it. He's even gone above and beyond to do some fundraisers so that it would subsidize the rent here so he doesn't have to charge us anything."
From headphones to hair kits, the toys will go to children in need.
Organizers are gearing up for the largest event of the season. The Marine Corps League and ABC 30's Toys for Tots, Marathon Weekend.
RELATED: How to support this year's Toys for Tots Marathon
"It's our largest toy drive of the entire season," said Montano. "It's really the basis of everything that we get. Majority of the monetary donations and the toy donations that we get in for the season come from that event."
Montano said while they've already started pushing out the toys from their warehouse, they still need the community's help.
"This was full but now we're almost empty," said Montano. "There's a couple of categories that we are empty on right now. So we really need this weekend to help us kick start so we can fill the rest of the agencies."
The biggest need for the toy drive is in the 8 - 12 age group for both boys and girls. Organizers said getting toys that could work for both would really help.
"We're a little bit struggling with the 4 to 7's right now," said Montano. "But I know we get a ton of those over the weekend. So we want to continue to tell people to focus on the 8 to 12's because always end up short at the end of the campaign."
Last year, Fresno-Madera Toys for Tots helped more than 51,000 kids. This year, they are hoping to surpass that goal.
"It's really important for these families," said Montano. "If they have to make a choice between buying a Christmas present for their kids or keeping the lights on, we definitely want to fill that gap."
So that every kid they help gets a gift this holiday season.
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