Hundreds of kids were able to unwrap toys on Christmas Day thanks to the Toys for Tots campaign for Wexford and Missaukee counties.
Officer in Command Captain Greg Bock with the Salvation Army said they have been a partner with the popular toy drive for decades.
Bock said they won’t have the final totals until after the New Year, but their preliminary numbers show they were able to provide 340 families, or 600 kids, with more than 5,000 toys, giving each child a couple of toys each.
Bock said the amount of need seems on par with last year, even though they did collect a bit more than last year.
He said time after time, the community steps up to fill that critical need and give support to families to make sure kids have presents to open on Christmas Day.
“It really means the world to a kid on Christmas morning when you can open up a toy you know and just forget about life for a moment and be completely focused on how awesome what they have in front of their face is. And it’s a toy that they can be a kid with,” said Bock.
In total, around 85 business and organizations throughout Missaukee and Wexford County helped with this year’s toy drive, with donation boxes in Cadillac, McBain, Manton, Lake City and Mesick.