Meet the New Location of Toys for Tots of Cortland County

Matt Brooks: [00:00:00] Good morning. I’m Matt Brooks on X 1 0 1 oh. Always classic in for another edition of Meet Cortland County. And joining me this morning, it’s Jess Forbes County Coordinator for Toys for Tots, for Cortland County. Thank you for joining me this morning, Jess. Thanks for having me. So we have a lot to talk about.

Holidays are right around the corner. Hard to believe I’m saying that. But first, uh, recently you’ve got a new warehouse space. Can you tell me about that?

Jess Forbes: Yes. We recently moved to 1 54 Clinton Ave. It’s still located inside Riverside Plaza. It’s just across the way and we’re excited to be in that space and to see how big we can grow our campaign.

Matt Brooks: Yeah, no, it’s a, it’s a great location and it’ll be a, a really easy place for parents and families to get to, to get these, uh, toys for children in need. Now, the holiday campaign, it’s gonna be starting up before we know it, but, uh, you have an application process if you want your child to receive a toy.

Can you tell me about the process and when those applications will be available?

Jess Forbes: Yes. So typically our applications open up on November 1st. This year we’re [00:01:00] extending it by 30 days. So they’re gonna be opening on October 1st, closing on the very last day of November. And if you want to apply, you’re gonna go to Cortland ny.toys for tots.org.

Matt Brooks: And, um, just to clarify, the, the, what’s the, uh. W applicable children, like age ranges and such. Sure.

Jess Forbes: That is a big change this year as well. Uh, last year we were zero to 18. This year we are zero to 14. So, so you’re

Matt Brooks: looking for toys that are for that entire range.

Jess Forbes: Zero to 14 years old boys and girls. Yep.

Matt Brooks: And speaking about things that we would be given to. Zero to 14 year olds, uh, for people who are on the donation side, like to make donations, what are the requirements for those toys and when do boxes go out?

Jess Forbes: The toys have to be new and unwrapped. They cannot be. Mine are used, they have to be brand new, um, and unwrapped so that we can make sure that what is going to, this, the kids is [00:02:00] appropriate, and boxes are actually going out into the community this year on October 14th instead of November 1st.

So we’re extending that donation time as well.

Matt Brooks: No, it’s, it’s great to hear that you’re giving more time for families to sign up and also giving more time for people to gather. Donations and toys, especially before the holiday rush really hits in end of November. Uh, but um. You can donate, you can, you can, uh, make a donation.

You can, um, also volunteer Now, holidays are coming approaching. You’re gonna need more volunteers and I assume you need more volunteers right now as well. Uh, what are some of the tasks that if I said I volunteer for a Toys for Tots. What do I do?

Jess Forbes: So we just had a big volunteer time on September 6th, the JV and varsity football teams from Homer Central School District came and helped us move our warehouse from the current location to the new location, which again is at 1 54 Clinton F.

Um, and then upcoming things is getting. The toys organized out [00:03:00] on the tables. We are not allowing shopping. Uh, this year the, my volunteers are gonna be shopping those orders. So when you place your orders, please be specific. List some hobbies, some likes that your kiddos have, so that we can cater those gifts to, to those kids.

So those work nights are gonna start in October, and they’re gonna go right through distribution day on December 13th.

Matt Brooks: All right. Perfect. And well, we are running a little outta time, but I just wanna make sure that we have. The changes, uh, recap. So the applications to sign up your children for the, uh, the campaign opening October 1st.