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DONATION SHORTFALL

Marines rush to find more Toys for Tots

By Dean NarcisoTHE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Handwritten on green paper and taped to the back door, a sign saying " Toy Giveaway Has Been Cancelled" was the only news Betty Evans and her family found to explain the disappointment they felt yesterday at the King Arts Complex.

The official explanation ?- that a drop in Toys for Tots donations had left many in the lurch ?- was little consolation.

" I'm disappointed," Evans said. " I think they should've notified people. There are children who are not going to have anything for Christmas."

Also disappointed, but determined to find a solution, is a battle- honed U. S. Marine.

Gunnery Sgt. Shawn Delgado, operations chief for Columbus- based Lima Company, spent 16hour days last week organizing the Marinessponsored Toys for Tots program at the Reserve Center at Rickenbacker.

" We understand that there was a fall- through on the support, and we're doing everything we can to answer the bell," Delgado said. He said the shortfall is the result of fewer corporate, national and local donors, and might be related to a stagnant economy.

On Friday, the last day for individual donations, he learned that a shipment of toys is expected to arrive by Monday and should fulfill all of the requests from needy residents.

Delgado said agencies not already contacted about the update should call 614- 492- 2978 to learn how they can fulfill their requests through the Reserve Center. The national Toys for Tots program serves about 200 organizations in central Ohio, including churches and social- service agencies, which

Toys for Tots organizer screen families to determine their need.

The King Arts Complex is one of those agencies that count on the program to deliver toys.

But the Marines can't fill requests until toys are collected from drop- off points, such as grocery stores, and from Toys for Tots national headquarters in Virginia. On Dec. 8, Delgado received more than 40 pallets of books, candy and toys. But it was not enough. " We got a lot of books, a lot of sugar- free candies and a few toys," he said.

A second shipment was supposed to arrive by Dec. 11 but didn't. The Marines distributed what they could to the organizations early this past week. On Thursday and Friday, they handed out toys to nearly 10,000 children in person.

The shortage has left the sponsoring organizations wondering whether they will be labeled Scrooges.

Jynette Hartfield, organizer of the Spirit of the Word Gospel Church giveaway program, said she received only enough toys for 6- year- old boys on her list, even though she needed toys for more than 1,300 children of all ages.

" This is the third year that they've disappointed my program," Hartfield said of Toys for Tots.

Hartfield said she also received large shipments of sugarfree candy, which she isn't sure what to do with.

She's thinking about donating the candy to a diabetes organization.

Frederica Wallace, director of Columbus LEADS, said some of the cancellation signs directed toy seekers to her agency. The agency isn't sponsoring families on behalf of Toys for Tots.

" I was worried about it being a fiasco if we didn't have some solution," Wallace said. " I was worried about people being lined up around our building and us not being able to be serve them."

Delgado, who is ending his first year as assistant organizer, understands the frustration but says Toys for Tots is taking heat, too.

" We're trying to do this out of the kindness of our hearts. And we're getting beat up over this," Delgado said.