Sometimes there are too many good old photos to choose just one – especially if it involves Toys for Tots – that perennial project Tri-County Leathernecks do to make sure all Greene County kids have something under the tree on Christmas morning.
Present Commandant Buzz Walters made the original photo collage “a few years back” to celebrate the founding of the Marines at Tuns Tavern in Philadelphia, on November 10, 1775. Fast-forwarding a couple of centuries, he proudly added Corsek’s Tavern in Dry Tavern, where he and fellow Marine veterans organized on November 10, 1982. They gathered there to “meet, eat and drink” like those original fellow vets…and make plans to do good work in the community.
Toys for Tots is an official Marine Corps project and helping kids was something the group was happy to tackle. In the beginning repairing old bikes and sleds was the first order of business. Used toys and cash to buy new ones for kids up to age 12 came in from the community, and Leathernecks and their friends and families got busy getting them Christmas ready. In those early years, dances, dinners and raffles helped refurbish and buy the extra toys that would be given out to cash-strapped families at their first distribution site at the Waynesburg Armory.
From the many files Buzz keeps at his Take Down Shop in Rogersville, I found other photos from Christmas past to add to his collage. (Sorry, Buzz – there wasn’t room for them all!)
That’s the late Max Devecka, Jim Walters and Dick Morgan in the upper right hand photo holding two of the many sleds Max, a gifted woodworker, restored in 1988, with USMC painted on every one. (Buzz has one on display in his shop.) Dick Morgan’s specialty was restoring and repainting donated bikes, including those rescued by state troopers, and getting them back on the road with new riders. These were the hot ticket gifts for kids in those pre-computer years when biking and sledding were what kids did. Later, as Toys for Tots transitioned into buying all new toys for the giveaways, it would be volunteers like Tom and Jeannie Hollowood, who purchased up to 100 bikes a year themselves, to make sure that kids whose families stood in line – sometimes all night – to get that one most begged for gift had a chance to get one. At Toys for Tots it’s “first come first serve.” Buzz pointed out. “We provide burn barrels for them so they can stay warm.”
I added a Toys for Tots collection box and a couple of coveted first time bikes with training wheels from an undated photo to remind everyone that these boxes are in many stores, banks and offices around the county, waiting for the donations of the new toys that keeps this program the success story that it has been for 42 years. The crunch year was 2008, when original members were dwindling and the group was “ready to throw in the towel,” Buzz told Bob Niedbala in Greene County Living’s Winter 2014 magazine. Luckily, Washington County Toys for Tots coordinator Ralph Pallesco reached out with money and toys and the community pitched in to donate and offer assistance, so “we didn’t miss a beat.”
Finally, in the lower left is the photo that accompanied Steve Barrett’s 2021 story celebrating yet another great year for Toys for Tots. This is the year Laura Walters officially joined up with Uncle Buzz to be his assistant going forward – a job she’s had a lifetime to prepare for, she cheerfully admits. Her dad Jim was a founding member of Tri-County Leathernecks and “I’ve been helping out since I was a teenager. It’s been a privilege for our family to continue the tradition. We’re in awe of how the local businesses and volunteers have given time and money over the years to support a program that provides toys for needy children at Christmas.”
Toys for Tots
You can mark your calendars now: the Tri-County Leathernecks have announced December 17 will be the distribution date for the 2022 Toys for Tots program in Greene County. “This will be our 42nd year for the program,” says Buzz Walters, Commandant of the Leathernecks.
New, unwrapped toys can be dropped at collection boxes throughout Waynesburg and Greene County – you’ll see them all over in places like Walmart, Community Bank, Giant Eagle, Big Lots, and Dollar General. You can also visit www.washpatoys4tots.org for locations.
The toy distribution will be from 10am-12pm. Toys will be distributed to parents of children ages 0-12 years. At the event, parents need to bring social security numbers and medical assistance card for every. You will not be able to receive toys without this information! Remember – children should NOT accompany parents.
The following locations will have toy distribution; contact names and numbers are provided if you have questions in advance:
Carmichaels Fire Dept. – Laura Walters, 724-986-6692
Clarksville Christian Church – Denise Prodan, 724-809-8458
Greene County Fairgrounds – Roy or Shirley Negley, 724-852-1026
Greensboro Volunteer Fire Dept. – Toni Cline, 724-358-2272
Richhill Township Volunteer Fire Dept. – Crystal Smith, 724-833-4104