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| 30 year commemorative coin |
40 year commemorative coin |
Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity is the fund raising, funding and support organization for the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program. The Foundation was created at the behest of the U. S. Marine Corps and provides support in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commander, Marine Forces Reserve, who directs the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program. The Foundation has supported Toys for Tots since 1991.
The mission of the US. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distribute those toys as Christmas gifts to needy children in the community in which the campaign is conducted.
History of the Native American Program
The United States Marine Corps and the Navajo Nation have had a special relationship since the “Code Talkers” of World War II fame. In 1980, Mobilization Training Unit (MTU) CA-16 (Los Angeles Public Affairs), the original 1947 Toys for Tots unit, took on the responsibility of collecting, transporting, and distributing toys to the Navajo Nation and later to other Native American tribes. Over the years, the MTU grew smaller and was eventually disbanded. At that time, the mission was taken over and conducted by the Toys for Tots Native American Program; a Local Community Organization (LCO) based in Laguna Niguel, California, and consisted of two former MTU CA-16 Marine Corps Officers. This organization works under the direction of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation in support of the United States Marine Corps.
A traditional Toys for Tots program involves the collection of toys in a community, and the distribution of those toys to economically disadvantaged children in that same community. Because there were no large population centers near the Navajo Nation that could support a traditional toy program, the Navajo Toys for Tots Program was started in order to provide needed toys to more than 60,000 (1990 census) Navajo children. The Navajo Nation is approximately 25,000 square miles and nearly as large in size as Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, and New Hampshire combined. The Navajo Reservation is located in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. In 1997 the name of the program was changed from the Navajo Toys for Tots to the Native American Toys for Tots Program because children on the Ramah Navajo (NM), Hopi (AZ), White Mountain Apache (AZ) and Acoma (NM) Reservations, traditional neighbors of the Navajo, had been receiving toys for years from the Program. In the ensuing years, the following reservations were added to the program: San Carlos Apache (AZ - 2001); Hualapai (AZ - 2002); Pascua Yaqui (AZ - 2003); Zuni (NM - 2004); Tohono O’odham (AZ - 2004); Ely Shoshone (NV - 2005); Duckwater Shoshone (NV - 2005); Gila River/groups (AZ - 2006); Salt River/groups (AZ - 2006); Colorado River Indian Tribes (AZ - 2007); Chemehuevi (CA - 2011); Pine Ridge (SD - 2015); Cheyenne River (SD - 2016); Yakama (WA - 2016); Three Affiliated Tribes, ND (Arikara - 2016 & Mandan - 2017); Ak-Chin (AZ - 2017); Rosebud (SD - 2019); Gila River (AZ - 2020); Yup'ik (Alaska - 2020); Alakanuk (Alaska - 2021); Native Village of Marshall (Alaska - 2022); Cherokee (OK - 2022); Spokane Tribe of Indians (WA - 2022); Klamath Tribes (OR - 2023); Tonto Apache (AZ - 2023); St Regis Mohawk (NY - 2023); and Quechan (AZ-2024). The Native American Toys for Tots Program has provided countless toys and books to the reservations for over 44 years, and supports Native American iiteracy programs.
see photos of Christmas gift deliveries on the reservations: https://tftnap.zenfolio.com
The Toys for Tots Native American Program is unique in that it is the only Toys for Tots Program whose primary mission is to reach out to Native American Reservations and to provide toys and books to the disadvantaged children on those Reservations. This originally involved the collection of toys, primarily in California; the transportation of the toys to various Native American Reservations, primarily in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, California, and Nevada; and the distribution of the toys, with the assistance of the various Reservation Police Departments, to Native American children. Toys have also been distributed to tribes in Wyoming, Oklahoma, California, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nevada, New Mexico, and Minnesota through a close working relationship with the Walking Shield Organization ( www.walkingshield.org ) and through other Toys for Tots Coordinators.
This year marks the “45th” Christmas that the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Native American Program will deliver toys and books to the Reservations. For Christmas this year, toys will be distributed to children on the Navajo, Ramah Navajo, Hopi, White Mountain Apache, San Carlos Apache, Hualapai, Pascua Yaqui, Zuni, Tohono O'odham, Colorado River Indian Tribes, Chemehuevi, Ak-Chin, Pine Ridge, Mandan (Three Affiliated Tribes), Rosebud, Gila River, Native Village of Marshall, Alakanuk, Cheyenne River, Spokane Tribe of Indians, Klamath Tribes, Tonto Apache, St Regis Mohawk, Quechan, and many other Native American Reservations. The children served by the Native American Toys for Tots Program are some of the most underprivileged children in our country. Many of them are living on Reservations which are home to some of the worst poverty in the world and in deficient housing with no electricity, water, plumbing, sewer, or septic.
When this Program first started there were very few toys available for distribution on the Reservations. There was no Toys for Tots Foundation until 1991, and the Marine Reserve Units were barely able to collect enough toys for their local communities. In 1980 the Reserve Unit (MTU CA-16) had only 2 pick up trucks full of toys for the Navajo Reservation. Over the years the Program evolved. Participating Reservation Police Departments sent many volunteers and vehicles to California to pick up toys. Each year we would collect more toys, but never as many as we would have liked or needed. We would collect toys all the way from San Diego to the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of the toys then came from local donors, the generosity of about 20 Marine Corps Reserve Centers, and Gift in Kind that we would accept throughout the year. In 2011 that all changed and the Toys for Tots Foundation recognized the severe need of Native American Children on the Reservations. That year the Foundation bought $1,300,000 worth of toys for the Toys for Tots Native American Program and encouraged the expansion of the Program to other Reservations and States. At present the Toys for Tots Foundation is providing thousands of toys to the Native American Program, and shipping the toys directly to the Reservations.
For 2024, overall, the Toys for Tots Native American Program will distribute toys and books to over 200,000 Native American Children. In addition to the toys and books distributed by the Toys for Tots Native American Program, Laguna Niguel, toys and books are also distributed by Toys for Tots Coordinators in Montana, Nevada, California, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Michigan. For 2024 the Toys for Tots Foundation is purchasing approximately $3,000,000 in toys and $500,000 in books for Native American Children in 16 States. In addition, toys are donated by various donors as Gift in Kind, and also collected locally. This means that now only a few police or Reservation personnel need to travel to California to pick up toys. This would not be possible without the strong financial support of the Toys for Tots Foundation.
(2018) 102.7 KIIS FM iHeart Radio Interview:
https://kiisfm.iheart.com/featured/community-council/content/2018-11-27-toys-for-tots-native-american-program/
The Arizona National Guard has been instrumental in the past by providing military trucks, troops and the use of their facility at Camp Navajo, Bellemont, AZ. They also provide ammunition bunkers for the storage of some of our toys.
Each year at Christmas time Marines help to distribute toys and books on one or more of the participating Reservations. In 2012, Marines helped the President of the Navajo Nation pass out toys to children in Tuba City, AZ (Navajo Nation). LtCol Tagni was honored to be the Grand Marshal in the annual Tuba City Toys for Tots Christmas Parade, and toys were passed out to children along the parade route. Marines also helped in 2012 with the distribution of toys on the Hopi Reservation (AZ). In 2014 Marines visited the Zuni and Ramah Navajo Reservations in New Mexico; in 2015 visited the Pascua Yaqui and the Tohono O'odham Reservations in Arizona; in 2016 visited the San Carlos Apache and White Mountain Apache Reservations in Arizona; in 2017 helped to distribute toys from the back of a horse trailer, going house to house, on the Hualapai Reservation in Arizona; in 2018 visited the Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona and rode on the Toys for Tots Float in their Community evening parade; and in 2019 the Toys for Tots Native American Program was honored and Recognized for "40" years of service to the Children of the Navajo Nation at their Department of Public Safety Awards Ceremony (Near Flagstaff, AZ) and again at a luncheon in Fort Defiance, AZ (Navajo Nation). Because of COVID no trips were made to the Reservations from 2020-2023. For 2024 we anticipate visiting the Ak-Chin and Gila River Reservations in Arizona.
In October 2024 the Annual Toys for Tots Native American Program Coordinating Conference will be held in Laughlin, Nevada with the participating Native American Nations, Reservations, Districts, and Organizations to discuss the the Program and the toy and book distribution for Christmas 2024.
In June of 2002, Lieutenant General Matthew Cooper (then President & CEO of the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation), and the Toys for Tots Foundation recognized the Toys for Tots Native American Program as one of the elite programs in the country, and also as the 2001 Local Community Organization of the year.
Cable Television Station NNTV-5 (Navajo Cable Station) made a TV documentary about the Toys for Tots Native American Program in both 2002 and 2003.
Peter C. Tagni, Lieutenant Colonel, USMCR (Ret)
Coordinator, Toys for Tots Native American Program
Telephone # 949-364-5531
PLEASE CALL FOR INFORMATION AND DO NOT SEND EMAILS
Donate By Check
For donations by check, mail checks made payable to Marine Toys for Tots Foundation to:
Lt Col Peter Tagni
Coordinator, Toys for Tots Native American Program
PO Box 3768
Mission Viejo, CA 92690