Basically, "WE" are just a loosely bound group of people, drawn together by the love of the outdoors who strive to help underpriviledged children by whole-heartedly supporting the USMC Toys for Tots Foundation. The "organizers" of this fundraiser are originally from the great state of Alabama and most still reside there. However, not everyone who participates is from Alabama or even the Southeast. In the past 4 years, we have collected donations from people in more than 12 states including AL, MS, TN, GA, FL, LA, TX, NC, WI, CA, PA and NY!
We got our start in 2001 on the forums of ALDEER.COM by collecting donations to support a needy family in the community. In 2002, that grew to support several families that members learned about through their churches. In 2003, we kicked off our Toys for Tots support campaign and raffled off a few items that were purchased and donated by members of the board. That year, we had a goal of $500 and when we were through, we raised $1350 for Toys for Tots.
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Now that we had a taste of what could be accomplished, we started off the 2004 drive with some items purchased by forum members and some items donated by local businesses and corporations and a goal of raising $3000. We ended up with approximately $2100 worth of prizes and raised a grand total of $10,193.40! Here's a pic of our three installments to the USMC Toys for Tots Foundation in 2004.
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In 2005, due to the Hurricane damage on the coast as well as the outpouring of support to charitable organizations in the latter part of the year, we lowered our expectations for our efforts. We set a goal of $5000, and are happy to report that we shattered that with nearly $9740 in funds that went directly to needy children in Alabama - many of them Hurricane Victims.
In 2006, we set a lofty goal of reaching the $30,000 mark for overall donations. Thanks to overwhelming support, we raised $12,630.08, bringing our overall donation total to $33,913.45 in just 4 short years!
For 2007, we continued to raise an incredible amount of money! Thank you for your support in helping us raise $9044.00 for 2007, bringing our total 5-year contribution to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation to $42,957.45!
Here's some Letters of Recognition from Major (Ret) Grein, Vice President of Marketing for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, acknowledging us for our contributions over the years.
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We hope that you will support us in our efforts to bring a little bit of happiness to some very appreciative children this Christmas. Thank you for looking and please pass a link to this raffle along to anyone in your email list to help spread the word.
THANK YOU &
MERRY CHRISTMAS
God Bless!
