Pairing students with heroes, the Toys for Tots Shop with the Heroes event Friday morning was a rousing success.
With the help of fire fighters, Traverse City police officers, Grand Traverse County Sheriff's deputies and Michigan State Police troopers and Marines, students culled through the toy section at Meijer to heap shopping carts with presents.
Spending $11,000 donated cash in an hour, the teams purchased everything from electronic toys and educational games to skateboards and classic board games. The toys will be distributed to children by organizations ranging from the Father Fred Foundation to the Salvation Army to the Goodwill Inn.
Twenty-four students from Silver Lake Elementary School and 15 students from Westwoods Elementary School participated in the festivities, bringing a dose of Christmas giving to children who otherwise might go without. Santa Claus also stopped by to hand out candy canes and acknowledge everyone's generosity.
"I liked picking out the skateboards,” said Ellen Tilford, a fifth grade student from Silver Lake Elementary School.
Tilford and four of her classmates worked with Metro firefighters Jeremy Bragiel and Randy Rittenhouse to choose a cart full of skateboards (10, all colors) and another cart full of educational games (20, all types.)
"This is one of the best fundraisers I do every year, this is the one I always sign up for,” said Bragiel. "It's neat because you're on a one-on-one basis with the kids.”
Working through a relatively simple list this year contrasted with Bragiel's first experience at Shop with the Heroes last December.
"Last year we had eight different things and we were running all over the store,” he recalled.
The Shop with the Heroes day pulls everything together for Meijer manager John Spaulding, a devoted booster of the Toys for Tots program. Starting his fourth Christmas season in town, Spaulding helped the Toys for Tots campaign kick off their season last month with a $10,000 check. Also at his initiation, the store matched all toy purchases donated to the program last Friday.
Then there's his innovative Shop with the Heroes idea, a win-win-win situation for students, heroes and needy children.
Calling all his efforts for Toys for Tots the right thing to do, he is also pleased to help children learn to help others.
"This is my favorite day of the year,” enthused Spaulding, who has been with Meijer for 28 years. "Here we have these rough and tough police officers or fire fighters with three-four elementary kids and give them a shopping list … you should see the looks on these kids' faces — and, more importantly, the adults'.”
This is the first year that Westwoods students participated and principal Rick Vandermolen transformed the opportunity into a lesson for students. He had students in second, third and fourth grades write an essay and participants were chosen based on their work.
"We wanted to tie it into the curriculum, writing is a big part of what we do,” he noted. "My kids are so fired up about it, I couldn't believe it.”
Until December 23, Toys for Tots will continue to accept donations of new, wrapped toys, preferable items other than stuffed animals, as well as cash donations. Last year, Northwest Michigan Toys for Tots used more than $22,000 from cash donations to buy toys that filled holes in wish lists.
"I can't express how important cash donations are to us,” said Jack Sir, director of Northwest Michigan Toys for Tots and a Marine who served during the 1980s. "There's a lot of teenagers who get overlooked in their age bracket and we use it for them.”
For more information about the Toys for Tots campaign in the Grand Traverse region, which runs through December 23, see their web site at www.nwmitoys.com.