Marines


Toys for Tots

MFR SEAL - FLAT - 2022
Information about the Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots program
Please join us in bringing a message of hope to less fortunate children
About

In 1947, Marine Corps Reserve Major Bill Hendricks was preparing for the holidays with his family in Los Angeles, CA. His wife, Diane, was an altruistic mother with nimble fingers and a knack for handcrafting. She handmade a few dolls during the holidays that year and asked her husband to donate them to an agency that supported children in need. The agency he sought didn’t exist - not yet.

Hendricks returned to his wife with the disheartening news, but instead of fretting, she inspired him to “start one!” He proceeded to round up the Marines in his unit to create a way to donate the dolls to children in need. They collected and distributed 5,000 toys that year.

Seeing the impact it created, the Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen Clifton B. Cates, directed all Reserve units to implement a Toys for Tots campaign in 1948, making the Program national.

Hendricks’ civilian job was as Director of Public Relations for Warner Brothers Studios, he used his connections to support the Program to expand its reach. As a favor to his friend Bill, Walt Disney created the first Toys for Tots poster that was adopted as the official logo.

More than seventy-five years later, Toys for Tots now distributes an average of 18 million toys and books to over 7 million less fortunate children across the Nation. 

Lt. Gen. Leonard Anderson IV, commander, Marine Forces Reserve and Marine Forces South (center left) and Lt. Gen. Jim Laster, USMC (Ret.), president and CEO of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation (center right), celebrate the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation’s 30th annual golf classic on May 19, 2025, surrounded by members of the TFT Foundation and Marine Corps volunteers from the National Capital Region. The annual golf classic raises essential funds through generous donors in support of upcoming TFT campaign operations. (courtesy photo)
UNITAS 2022
From left, Boatswain’s Mate 3rd Class Ali Fayyad, Chief Warrant Officer Michael Fifer, and Engineman 1st Class Jason Hook from Command Beachmaster Unit (BMU) 2, Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) 2, United States Navy, pose for a photograph after loading their vehicles and equipment aboard Landing Craft, Utility 1663 at Ilha do Governador, Rio de Janeiro, Sept. 6, 2022. BMU-2 functions as the beach traffic controller and provides craft landing zone beach party teams in support of ship-to-shore movement to facilitate landing of personnel and equipment. They also provide a salvage capability with Light Amphibious Recovery Craft (LARC) which is essential to the safety and success of the various amphibious operations throughout Brazil. UNITAS, which is Latin for ‘unity,’ trains forces from across the globe in South America to conduct joint maritime operations through the execution of anti-surface, anti-submarine, anti-air, amphibious, and electronic warfare operations that enhance warfighting proficiency and increase interoperability among participating navy and marine forces. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Maj. Jeremy Wheeler)

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Photo by: Maj. Jeremy Wheeler |  VIRIN: 220906-M-VM900-943.JPG