Story Submitted:
Mar 29, 2007
New Headquarters for Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation
(Left to right) Retired Lt. Gen. Matthew T. Cooper, Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots president; Mike Garcia, owner of Mike Garcia Construction Co.; Maureen Caddigan, Dumfries’ district supervisor for the Prince William County Board of Supervisors; retired Lt. Gen. William L. “Spider” Nyland, chairman for Toys for Tots’ board of directors; and Lt. Gen. Ronald Coleman, deputy commandant for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, Headquarters Marine Corps, scoop up fresh dirt during the Toys for Tots groundbreaking ceremony held in Dumfries, Va., Friday.
DUMFRIES, Va., March 23 -- Prominent active duty and reserve military officials and supporters, along with the key members of the local community, gathered around a lot located near the Quantico Gateway in Triangle, Va., to watch the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Foundation make history with a ground breaking ceremony Friday.
The ceremony marked the impending construction of the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation’s new headquarters.
Nearly $6 million, provided through donations and fundraisers, will finance the three-story, 21,000 sq. ft. building designed to accommodate the expansion and rapidly increasing demand of the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program, said retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Matthew Cooper, president of the Toys for Tots Foundation.
“At the end of 2004 campaign, we decided we were too overcrowded and didn’t have room to facilitate any more employees,” Cooper said. “Since I came here in 1993, I have seen a tremendous increase in the numbers of communities we support, however, our staff has relatively stayed at a minimum, and in order to meet the needs of the community, we will need to increase our staff.”
The new building will offer two floors of office space and will mirror the Quantico Gateway buildings, according to retired Marine Corps Maj. William Grein, vice president of marketing and development for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots Foundation.
“One floor of the new building will be set aside for storage so we can have space to put everything in one place,” Grein said.
The organization’s original location was limited to a set of offices on the third floor of the Marine Corps Association Annex here on Quantico with various storage spaces in the nearby vicinity.
“We needed a building of this magnitude so we can continue to grow,” Cooper said. “Our objective is to expand to meet the needs of the communities we support.”
The Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program ranks 59th out of 1.5 million charities in “The Philanthropy 400” magazine, he said.
“With the caliber of our program, it is one of the nation’s premier Christmas charities,” Cooper added. “Our goal is not to be one of the top charities, but to be the top charity.
“Last year we supported more than 7.6 million children with 19.2 million toys. There is a lot of work left for us to do so this building will help us expand our staff so we can meet that goal.”