Smiles for Today and Hope for Tomorrow Delivered to Children in Cleveland, OH

The Marine Toys for Tots Program is more than a Christmastime charity – we provide support year-round to children in need through our partnerships with local organizations across the Nation. Throughout the spring and summer months, local organizations will be distributing toys, books, and other gifts – provided by Toys for Tots – to underprivileged children in their local communities.

At the beginning of the year, the Cleveland Public Library launched the Cleveland READS Program in response to a city-wide effort to increase literacy rates. The Program challenged their local community to reach the goal of one million minutes and one million books read. Close to the halfway mark of this challenge, participation efforts far exceeded that goal, and the new goal has been reset to 10 million minutes of reading!

To celebrate this new goal, the library hosted the Cleveland READS mid-point event in May – Super Reader Celebration – to kickoff summer reading. The event featured vendors, prizes, music, and giveaways that brought excitement to 2,000 children in need! A local organization, Goods Bank NEO, distributed 2,500 toys and games – provided by Toys for Tots— to children during the event. Toys and games like Candyland, Play Doh, Lego sets, sensory toys, and much more, brought an overwhelming amount of excitement to the children and their families!

“Parents are under a lot of pressure to meet their monthly bills, and events like this can offer relief from those everyday pressures,” said a Goods Bank NEO representative. “They are so thankful for the giveaway; all were full of smiles and thanks. It was a truly amazing event.”

The gifts that are provided by Toys for Tots provide underprivileged children with an outlet to build positive memories and encourage imagination and engagement. We are a year-round force for good by providing smiles for today and hope for tomorrow!