Scouts find merit in Toys for Tots shopping spree

By CARL ORTH
The Suncoast News
It was a good deed, indeed.

Some 50 Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts fulfilled their daily mission to do a good deed as they helped launch the annual Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots campaign in west Pasco County on Friday.

The youngsters shopped the aisles of the Toys R Us store in Port Richey to select gifts for needy children in west Pasco who might otherwise not get anything for the holiday.

Last year, 7,127 area youngsters got presents thanks to Marine Corps League Holiday Detachment 567, which runs the program. In 2008, 23,520 toys were donated.

John T. Durkin, a retired Marine colonel and the local Toys for Tots coordinator, helped the Scouts get in the spirit of the occasion. Other dignitaries who welcomed the group included Pasco County Commission Chairman Jack Mariano, Port Richey Mayor Richard Rober and Shawn Foster, the district director for U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor.

"It does a lot for the person getting the gift," Mariano said. "But it actually does more" for the person giving the gift.

"The finest way to be remembered is by how much you cared for others around you," Rober said. "That will define you one day. Christmas Day will be a whole lot better for a lot of people because of every one of you here."

Foster said the Scouts are living their principle to do a good deed daily.

"When the parents show up to get the toys for their children, you would not believe how appreciative those parents are when they get something they would not have been able to do on ... Christmas Day. You guys are going to make it superspecial."

Each Scout had $80 to spend, with a maximum per toy of $20, Durkin said. After the event, he reported that $3,661 had been spent on about 200 toys.

Toys R Us customers can donate cash and new, unwrapped toys at stores through Dec. 6, managers said. Monetary donations can be made through Christmas Eve at any store or at www.toysrus.com.

Hundreds of drop boxes for donated toys are appearing in stores and other businesses.

The post office plans to collect toys curbside on Dec. 5.

For information, call Durkin at (727) 858-8247 or go to www.ToysForTots WestPasco.org.