BELTON, Mo. — With less than a week until Christmas, Toys for Tots Kansas City said it's having a tough time — but not with donations.
Gunnery Sgt. Jacob McCormack told 41 Action News Toys for Tots would reach its goal and have enough toys to exceed orders.
"The outpouring of support from the Kansas City community has been overwhelming and we are definitely going to have enough toys to go around this year," McCormack said.
McCormack said the challenge has been getting the toys in the right hands before Christmas morning.
"This is where rubber meets the road, where we're still receiving donations and trying to sort and count those donations, bag them up and make sure they get to the organizations in time," McCormack said.
Thursday, 6,000 toys were brought to the warehouse at the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Center. Marines spent the day sorting and loading toys to be distributed to organizations around the metro.
"We've got about 100 families coming to pick up the toys tonight between 7:30 and 8:30," said Terra Morehead, a volunteer.
For the past 7 years, Morehead has been loading up the orders and delivering them to organizations for which she volunteers.
"Probably about 400 kids will benefit from this, just from our effort that we've done," Morehead said.
This year alone, Toys for Tots said it is assisting 240 organizations across the metro, giving at least one toy each to 32,000 children.
"I think it's a real testament to the heart of Kansas City," McCormack said.
Toys for Tots held 30 toy drives throughout the year and put out 600 collection bins across the metro, which helped drive donations.
Currently, McCormack said Toys for Tots is short on toys for kids who are 8 years old and older.
Anyone interested in making a donation can do so through this website.
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