A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Is Toys for Tots in trouble? The nonprofit that distributes toys to needy kids and families is seeing fewer toy donations this holiday season at some chapters across the country. Now, with us to help understand what's going on and whether there's a Christmas crisis coming is retired Lieutenant Colonel David Cooper. He's the vice president of operations at the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. Colonel Cooper, welcome to the program.
DAVID COOPER: Well, A, thanks for having me.
MARTÍNEZ: Sure. Now, we've seen a few reports from around the country that some Toys for Tots chapters are getting fewer donations this holiday season. On the flip side, applications - that's kids and families requesting toys from the foundation - are higher. So how widespread is this issue right now?
COOPER: The situation this year - you know, traditionally, before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, we do see a little bit of a drop in toy donations. And of course, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, we are optimistic that those donations will go up. But make no mistake about it, the Marines and volunteers will make sure that children will be happy this Christmas holiday season.
MARTÍNEZ: What are you hearing from chapters across the country on this?
COOPER: I mean, our local Marines and volunteers, sure, they're a little bit concerned. I think this year is different than last year. We were very fortunate last year to have corporations like Disney, Hasbro and LEGO donate over 9.6 million items of corporate gift in kind. And then this year, those donations are returning back to historical norms. So our coordinators last year may have gotten a lot of that corporate gift in kind early in the season, and they just haven't seen that now. But we are optimistic, again, that we're going to meet the need this holiday season.
MARTÍNEZ: You know, last few months, Colonel, I've been talking to toymakers, the people that actually make toys. And they were saying how the tariff situation has affected some of their production sales. I'm wondering, do you think that might have something to do with the slow donations right now? Maybe tariffs, the economy, inflation, something like that might be affecting things.
COOPER: Well, I think the tariff situation definitely has companies and individuals concerned. I know a lot of the wholesale companies that we work with purchase product very early on in the spring to try to beat out some of the challenges with the tariffs.
MARTÍNEZ: Is there anything that the national Toys for Tots foundation can do to help the chapters that might be struggling?
COOPER: Well, that's a great question, A. So what we do during this time is if there are age and gender gaps where people have not been donating, we purchase toys with our donated money. And we get those toys out to the local campaigns within days.
MARTÍNEZ: Would you consider, temporarily at least, to accept used toys that are in excellent condition maybe to help with the numbers?
COOPER: Well, since 1980, we've only accepted new and unwrapped toys. And a lot of that has to do with what we don't want is children to get a used toy and kind of feel like...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, yeah.
COOPER: ...You know, they got some kind of a hand-me-down. So really, for a child, we want to make sure they get that new, shiny toy at Christmas. And then for the parents and guardians that we empower them to be able to help their children during the holiday season.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. So what can folks who are listening do to help?
COOPER: Well, first and foremost, if you see that Toys for Tots box out in front of one of those retail stores, I would ask you to buy a toy and put a toy in that box. Of course, monetary donations are always what we need this time of year. And I would like to stress that, you know, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation, as a cherry, we have a 98-2 program-to-support ratio. So 98 cents out of every dollar that's donated goes to putting a toy or book into a child's hand.
MARTÍNEZ: David Cooper is the vice president of operations for the Toys for Tots foundation. Colonel Cooper, thanks a lot for joining us.
COOPER: Thank you for having me on.
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