By Melvin Bui
The Child/ Family/ Education/ Service club has partnered up with Toys for Tots for their annual Christmas toy drive.
Toys for Tots is a program run by the United States Marine Corps reserve. The drive started on Nov. 13 and ends on Dec. 6, this gives students three weeks to donate toys.
In order to participate, one must donate toys that are new and have not been wrapped yet, so that staff are able to inspect in case of tampering.
The gift must cost at least $10 and must be appropriate for the ages of 0-16 years old. The toys must be dropped off at class rooms 115, 116 and 120 of the F7 building.
The toys are stored until it is near Christmas, then the toys that have been donated are brought to the Honda Center in Anaheim.
Toys for Tots has their staff reach out to families that are in need and then distributes the toys to them.
The staff partners up with social welfare programs, churches and other local community agencies to see which families need the gifts the most.
The purpose of the drive is to help children and families that are less fortunate by giving them gifts to help brighten their mood.
Receiving gifts around Christmas time allows them to participate in the cultural holiday and make memories that they can talk about.
Last year the CFES club was able to adopt two families and donate dozens of toys. Adopting means sponsoring the family by giving them supplies to help their everyday life like food, supplies, shelter or money.
In the previous years, they have had toy drives for other holidays like Easter and Halloween.
On Cloud 9 is a Los Angeles based organization that has the main objective of helping homeless people and animals in need.
The CFES club has partnered up with L.A. On Cloud 9 in the past for their annual food drive. It is a non-profit organization that gathers its funds from the donations of its constituents.
The CFES club is comprised of child development, family and consumer studies, nutrition and liberal arts major students.
The club meets every week in the F7 building to talk about possible outreach projects that they can partake in around the community. They have events specifically for certain holidays.
This year, they hope to raise more funds so that they are able to help people that are less fortunate and adopt more families and new organizations that are concerned about the welfare of the less fortunate.