Marines’ Toy Drive Troubled : Christmas: Collections in annual Toys for Tots campaign are dramatically down as a result of the recession and programs for disaster victims.

The most recent meeting of Girl Scout Troop 223 at Lake Forest Elementary School was attended by three uniformed Marines.

“We want to thank you,” Cpl. Lou Geary told the 12 bright-eyed girls sitting in a semicircle.

The reasons for the military’s gratitude included a Barbie doll, a toy race car, a set of Peter Rabbit books, a stuffed teddy bear called “Baby Puffalumps,” and an assortment of plastic trolls. The toys, each brought by one of the girls, were destined for Toys for Tots, a national campaign orchestrated by the Marines each year to put donated toys in the hands of needy children at Christmas.

“If you woke up Christmas morning and there wasn’t anything under the tree you’d be sad, wouldn’t you?” Scout leader Sue Hampton reminded the youngsters when the corporal was done.

According to Geary, lots of Orange County children may have just that experience this Christmas. Toy collections are dramatically down, she said, while the demand for toys has increased substantially.

“A lot of families called in to say that last year they were giving toys and this year they need them,” said Geary, Toys for Tots coordinator at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, Orange County’s main collection point.

As of Friday, she said, the military base had collected 9,000 toys, compared to about 20,000 by the same time last year. Simultaneously, she said, requests for toys had increased from 42,000 involving 35 agencies last year to 49,725 from 42 agencies this year.

If present trends continue, Geary said, about 40,000 toys will be collected by this year’s Dec. 24 deadline--when the toys will be distributed--compared to 81,440 last Christmas.

“I don’t know what will happen,” the corporal said. “I guess we’ll just have to beg.”

Program administrators attribute the shortfall, a nationwide phenomenon, to several factors.

First, they say, about 200,000 toys that would have been distributed among 200 Marine units throughout the country by the project’s national foundation in Amherst, N.Y., will go instead to victims of Hurricane Andrew in Florida and the recent riots in Los Angeles.

Secondly, organizers say, the continuation of the recession and high unemployment in Southern California has made it difficult for many people to give and has increased the number of those who are in need.

And finally, Geary said, the recent deployment of U.S. forces to Somalia has severely reduced the number of personnel available locally to collect toys. A case in point: of the 15 Marines who were planning a 700-mile bicycle trip through Southern California to “pedal for toys” this week, 12 were sent to Somalia and the trip had to be canceled.

Yet the Marines keep trying. The number of Orange County collection sites, according to Geary, has been doubled from 200 last year to the current 400. And because volunteers are actively encouraging (and regularly attending) special toy-collecting parties, 75 such gatherings have taken place or are scheduled this year, compared to only 35 in 1991.

One such gathering was the recent Troop 223 Christmas party, admission to which consisted of one new unwrapped toy.

“I think the girls decided to do Toys for Tots because they can relate to waking up Christmas morning without any toys,” said troop leader Hampton. “It’s good for them to know that not everyone has it as good as they do.”

Those sentiments were echoed almost exactly by Ashlee Espinoza, 8.

“It just feels real good to help someone,” she said. “It’s very simple. If you can help, you should help.”

For information about donating toys, call (714) 726-3878 or (714) 726-3682.

Toys for Tots

The number of toys collected in Orange County by the Marine Corps Toys for Tots campaign will likely be only half last year’s effort. 1992: 40,000*

* Projected

Source: El Toro Marine Corps Air Station