2007 troubles cause slump for Toys for Tots

[unhappycamper]

2007 troubles cause slump for Toys for Tots
By Michael Hoffman - Staff writer
Posted : Thursday Jan 3, 2008 11:30:03 EST

Blame it on the sluggish economy or the scare over recalled toys, but early reports from the 2007 holiday season indicate the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation fell short of its record donation levels from 2006, even as it celebrated its 60th anniversary.

A year after the foundation provided 7.6 million children with toys for the holiday season, more sites nationally struggled this year than usual, said Bill Grein, Toys for Tots’ vice president of marketing and development.

Campaign offices across the country have until Jan. 15 to file their final reports, but Grein said the foundation didn’t anticipate the same level of success because of the struggling economy and an early Thanksgiving date, among other reasons.

“It was a combination of a lot of things,” he said. “The toy recall certainly was a part of it. The fact that we’re in a major political year and a lot of dollars were being directed to political campaigns. The major fires in southern California. The ice storms in the middle of the country. The economy and stock market. All that has to have an effect on the people who donate.”

A Toys for Tots organizer in Florida said he saw some of the same people who donated toys last year on the receiving end this year after they lost their jobs because of the housing market slump.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/01/marine_toysfortots_080103/