About Toys for Tots

The program began in 1947 when retired USMC Maj. Bill Hendricks and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected 5,000 toys and distributed them to needy children. The idea started with Hendricks’ wife, Diane, who made a Raggedy Ann doll and asked her husband to distribute it to an organization that provided needy children with toys. No type of agency existed, so she encouraged him to start one.