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Following Thanksgiving, the rush for holiday shopping kicks into high gear. We have Black Friday sales followed by Small Business Saturday, which encourages shoppers to help out those location businesses during the holiday season. Monday is now “Cyber Monday,” which advertises big online sales. Finally, we have “Giving Tuesday.”
Giving Tuesday focuses on charitable giving following the Thanksgiving holiday leading up to Christmas. Both individuals and big companies take time on this day to give to charities to offer support during the holiday season.
The Disney Company is no different. This Giving Tuesday, The Walt Disney Company made a large donation to one charitable organization.
Credit: Disney
Toys for Tots
Toys for Tots began in 1947 by Marine Corps Reserve Major Bill Hendricks and his wife, Diane. Diane had a few handcrafted dolls that she wanted her husband to deliver to an agency for kids. They quickly realized that no organization existed- so they created one.
The Marines in Major Henricks’s unit worked together in LA to collect and distribute over 5,000 toys in 1947. Following the first year’s success, Marine Reserve Sites were instructed to implement a Toys for Tots campaign in 148, transforming the campaign into a national one.
Credit: Disney
Toys for Tots and Disney
As a friend of Bill Hendrick, Walt Disney designed the first Toys for Tots poster as a favor to help support the new Marine Toys for Tots Program.
The poster featured a miniature three-car train, which was quickly adopted as the logo of Toys for Tots. The logo drawn by Walt Disney is still used today, and the connection between Toys for Tots and The Walt Disney Company continues to thrive.
Credit: The Walt Disney Company
Disney Provides Generous Donation
In honor of Giving Tuesday, The Walt Disney Company and Staff Sergeant James Caldwell appeared on Good Morning American. Along with Ginger Zee, an announcement was made that this year, families and friends of the Toys for Tots collected 16,125 toys so far for the Marine Toys for Tots program.
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Although this was a fantastic announcement, the holiday joy and giving wasn’t over, and The Walt Disney Company had more magic planned.
Celebrating more than 75 years of collaboration, The Disney Company announced that Disney Ultimate Toy Drive is providing grants for another 75,000 toys to children in need this holiday season.
Over the years, Marines and volunteers have distributed 652 million toys to over 291 million children, and the giving and magic won’t be stopping anytime soon.
There are two ways you can support the Disney Ultimate Toy Drive:
- Donate a toy online at shopDisney.com through December 24, 2023.
- Donate a new, unwrapped toy in person at a drop-off location now through December 15, 2023. For locations across the United States, click here.
Credit: The Walt Disney Company
