Less Than 24 Hours Left!

 According to my comp-builder extrordinaire, the finished comp will be over 400 pages worth of fun!

So, I promised another story as to why Toys for Tots is so important to me.

Many many years ago, I worked for Toys-R-Us as the Front of Store Manager. I answered only to the store director and handled everything directly involving customers. The beginning of November 2004, I received a phone call from the local liaison for the Marine CorpToys4Tots program, wanting to know if we could help them fulfill their needs for that season. They would need 2-3 sales associates to help them fill the carts, and we had almost $50,000 to work with. I'm not going to lie - that was more money than I made in a year! It was a tad bit overwhelming to know that I was going to help someone spend it all in one day.

We set a date for the middle of the week near the beginning of December, hoping to avoid the weekend shopping press. When the Marines arrived, I had three young men to work with - none of them with children of their own, but who had volunteered to work with the charity. They were also all men, and had a list that was almost 70% little girls.

I proceeded to spend almost my entire nine hour shift shopping. As fast as we filled carts, they were whisked away to the front of the store. A POD storage unit was delivered for us to load the presents in to as they were rang up. It took almost 20 transactions to get everything accounted for, and by the time we finished, entire sections of the store had been decimated. I can't recall ever having had so much fun in my life at work.

With each item I pulled from the shelves, I wasn't thinking about how positively our sales figures would be impacted for the day. Instead, I kept picturing the faces of nameless boys and girls around our region and the smiles the things we picked out would bring to their faces. It was a feeling I carried with me the rest of the Christmas season, even when I was working twelve hour shifts Christmas week. Its a feeling I've carried with me ever since, and the same one I hope everyone who is involved with this compilation - organizers, donors, writers, banner makers, betas - also feels when they hold it in their hand.

I am so thrilled with everything we've accomplished this year. I would have loved to have made our goal, but we did exceed last year and there is still plenty of time left for a few more last minute donations.We will accept donation receipts right up until the stroke of midnight. Please consider giving one last gift - one that gives back to you in the best of ways, by filling your heart.

I'll be back later with another update.

Merry Christmas Eve, everyone, and thank you!