Written by: Cynthia Finn Barry, CPA, Past President of the Executive Board of the Suffolk Chapter and current Statewide Director representing Suffolk. Cynthia is a Partner at Sheehan & Company CPA PC and has organized the Toys for Tots campaign since its inception fifteen years ago.
Brightwaters, New York - December 15, 2009 - The Toys for Tots program began in 1947 with Major Bill Hendricks, USCR and a group of Marine Reservists who collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children in the Los Angeles area. The story goes that Bill’s wife, Diane, crafted a doll and asked her husband to provide it to an organization that would distribute the doll to a needy child at Christmas. When it was found that no such agency existed, Diane told Bill that he should start one. Bill did so in 1947 and the first year was so successful that the Marine Corps adopted the program in 1948 and extended it nationwide.
The founding philosophy of “bringing the joy of Christmas to America’s needy children” has not changed. The generosity of all participants in our program this year has demonstrated that so many of us are touched by the spirit of the campaign and its mission to provide new unused toys to underprivileged children at Christmas.
On Friday, December 11, 2009, approximately twenty members of the United States Marine Corps Reserves from Amityville, New York descended upon the offices of Sheehan and Company CPA, PC in Brightwaters with a tractor trailer as they had in past years. Over the years, the Marines have changed their method of pick up as the collection has grown in epic proportions. Years ago they arrived with a five-ton truck then added rented vans, next added a 7 ton truck and now they come fully prepared with a tractor trailer.
The NYSSCPA Toys for Tots program has grown in epic proportions over the years. What began as a grassroots effort by the Suffolk Chapter Young CPA’s Committee in 1995 with ten member firms participating, has grown to encompass drop off sites in Nassau, Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan in addition to Suffolk with over one hundred locations. As always, one of the key factors that contributed to the success of the 2009 Toys for Tots campaign was the support provided by member firms, local businesses, all branches of The First National Bank of Long Island and State Bank of Long Island, C.W. Post Accounting Society, Pathmark and client offices that participated in the drive.
Over the last year, the economic downturn has affected everyone in one way or another. At the start of the fifteenth annual campaign, many of us wondered how this year’s collection would be affected by the dwindling economy. Amazingly, the collection this year appeared to be slightly larger than in past years. The official count from the Marines was 122 boxes along with a few bicycles and scooters! We were told that we are indeed the single largest pick up on all of Long Island! What a wonderful accomplishment!
During the campaign, Lisa Martinelli-Bowman and I were invited by Michael Vittorio, President of The First National Bank of Long Island, to join him on KJOY to promote this year’s Toys for Tots campaign. We were featured on their program “Island Outlook”. We were thrilled to be able to promote this year’s event to all of Long Island through a new medium.
This year we were extremely fortunate to have so many volunteers to the program, it is impossible to name them all without missing someone. Volunteers were needed to obtain boxes from Pathmark, assemble and wrap the boxes, distribute and pick the boxes up from the many locations, coordinate the collection efforts at each location, shop for toys and arrange the collection for the Marines. Several volunteers enlisted the efforts of their children this year and educated them on how to help those that are less fortunate. Our shopping trip this year was made possible by the generous financial support of the firms represented by the Board of Directors and others.
Over the course of the past 62 years (1947 - 2009), the Marines have distributed nearly a half a billion toys to close to 250 million needy children and the NYSSCPA-Suffolk Chapter has been an important part of the Amityville collection for the past 15 years. For several years, Marine Toys for Tots Foundation was ranked in the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s “Philanthropy 400″.
The committee extends their sincere appreciation to the following firms, local businesses and their employees and customers for helping make a difference this holiday season for underprivileged children on Long Island: