Toys for Tots providing toys to a record number of area kids

The Red Oak  Police Department will be making Christmas bright for hundreds of kids this year.
On Dec. 17, the department wrapped up toys collected for the annual program, and gifts were delivered to kids on Dec. 22. Red Oak Police Chief Justin Rhamy said the program has been going on for decades, though not with the ROPD.
“Through the police department, we’ve been doing it now for a decade, but its been going on in the community now for about 78 years total with the Toys for Tots program through the Marine Corps and all their partners that they have, such as Fareway. The fire department initially handled the Toys For Tots program, and when I took over as a chief 10 years ago, they shared that they didn’t have the time and manpower to coordinate it successfully,” explained Rhamy. “I had a conversation with Brad Baker, who was my community liason at that time, and we both thought we should try to take it over.  Everything has come to fruition and we’ve been running with it since. It’s done nothing but increase over the course of the last 10 years.”
Rhamy said when they first took over the program 10 years ago, they were providing toys for around 130 kids. This year, that amount is nearly double.
“We were at 187 kids on the list last year. This year, we’re providing toys to 228 kids in total, and that breaks down to 94 families. We’ve had an increase of 41 kids being assisted by the program just since last year alone. This is a Montgomery County program, so it’s not just kids being assisted in Red Oak, we’re providing a Merry Christmas to kids all throughout the county,” commented Rhamy.
Rhamy said there were likely several reasons that have led to the large spike of Toys For Tots sign ups since last year.
“I think there’s probably a lot of factors that kind of roll into that. I think the inflation and the state of the economy right now, is pretty tough. You look at food prices, people are having to spend more on food to keep their families fed, which reduces what they’re going to be able to do for Christmas gifts or birthday gifts or whatever other gifts may come out throughout the year that they have to save for. There’s a number of things contributing to the rise, but just the inflation in general is probably really taking a toll on a good majority of the households,” Rhamy advised.
With that in mind, Rhamy said it was all the more important that kids in need had a toy to unwrap for Christmas.
“We all have a holiday spirit in some way, shape, or form. So being able to understand what Christmas is and Santa Claus is, it’s a huge deal, I think,” Rhamy stated.
Community liason Amber Jennings said they were able to collect countless toys from many locations.
“We had 11 locations here in Red Oak and then four in Villisca and the boxes were mostly full. We might be down a little bit on the toys collected, but we’ve got a lot of monetary donations this year versus the toys being dropped off between businesses, organizations, and residents.
“Miner’s Tree Service was one of our big donors this year along with the Red Oak Rotary Club. The Rotary decided this year that instead of adopting a child or a family, that they were going to support the Toys for Tots and our toy drive. Altrusa of Red Oak has donated.The teachers at the junior high school always go together and get some money and they donate. ESB Clark Heavy Construction did a monetary donation this year, which they’re usually one of our top ones that donate to us every year. We also received private donations from Kathi Most and Bill Billings,” Jennings said.
One of the donations that stood out this year was a private donation from Taelin Spera.
“She went above and beyond with what her donation was, donating $700 worth of toys to Tractor Supply. That amount of money from an individual person coming in to support the program is a huge deal. Even better, she actually went out and bought the toys. It would have been easy to just write a check, but she actually got the toys for us which makes things a little easier,” explained Rhamy.
While they get a lot of toys for the ages four to eight age group, the money donated helps them buy toys for other age groups.
“A lot of the monetary donations we use to purchase a lot of the older kids’ stuff, long with some of the toys for infants. We have probably about seven infants on the list this year that aren’t old enough to have the two plus toys. We went to several different stores here in town and pretty much bought them out, and the Red Oak Eagles Club normally does a big shopping spree for us,” Rhamy commented.
Not only does that method benefit the kids that need toys this year, it also helps boost the local businesses.
“It does create an influx for our local businesses, and when we shop we do our best to keep it as local as we possibly can,” Rhamy stated.
The numbers of kids needing toys are shared with the main Toys For Tots program which provides additional toys to distributed in the county.
“We do a spreadsheet and we’ll turn it into Toys for Tots, then they usually calculate about one to two toys per child. We go to Des Moines and pick up an enclosed trailer full of toys. It’s all depending on how much they have donated. Some times there are seven to ten toys per bag, but if they have six in a household, then they’re getting seven to 10 toys to distribute among those six kids,” advised Rhamy.
While the main Toys for Tots program only extends to kids up to age 14, Rhamy said locally, they take care of those who are older.
“We’ve had a handful of older kids that we try to accommodate for. We can still assist them and get them gifts so they’re not left out,” Rhamy said.
Rhamy said it’s a special feeling for everyone when they pass out the toys on delivery day.
“A lot of the kids are there at the door. The police department and fire department are the ones that deliver here in town and have their lights on. A lot of the kids like that. A lot of the kids are happy to see them. The Villisca Fire Department will deliver in Villisca, and then there’s a few kids in Stanton and Elliott that will have their toys delivered by sheriff’s deputies,” Rhamy commented.
Rhamy praised the assistance of Jody Hossle and the Togetherhood Program for helping get the toys ready for delivery each year. Rhamy said they will always take Toys For Tots donations.
“We will always be open for donations as far as the program goes. If someone wants to donate on the local side of it, most certainly reach out to us. We got a local 501c3, “Behind the Shields,”  that they can make their donation to. When they make their donation, if they just want to earmark it towards Toys for Tots or whatever program. The development of that 501c3 locally for us has been huge because there’s a lot of people that want to donate, and they want to be able to write that off on their taxes and this allows them to,” stated Rhamy.