Customarily, this is the time of year Bob Loring goes on cruise control - high-rev, endless motion, urgent cruise control, but cruise control, nonetheless.

An unofficial expert on human systems analysis, Loring, the face of the Marine Corps Reserve's East Pasco Toys For Tots campaign, has - through coercion, cajoling and outright perseverance - designed and cultivated a flawless inventory, short-term storage and distribution process for the spreading of yuletide joy among families hard-pressed to make the season glitter on their own.
Now, as always, the X-factor remains collecting sufficient numbers of toys, gadgets, games and such to satisfy an ever-growing cohort of youngsters who qualify for intercession by Toys For Tots. No doubt, you have wondered about that: School guidance counselors perform the screening.
Loring expects that more than 1,000 families will prove sufficiently needy, putting the population of children relying on east Pasco's Toys For Tots program at about 3,500 - 500 more than a year ago.
Once upon a time, Loring and his volunteer associates imagined they had eliminated the element of risk from toy collections. They had experienced nothing but abundance in the last several years' post office toy drives. Alas, this year's event, held Dec. 2, produced no more than two-thirds of last year's haul.

One-third fewer toys. Seventeen percent more needy kids. It doesn't take a CPA to figure out that such an arrangement makes for a shortfall uglier than Deerfield Academy's.

Keeping Christmas' Promise
In an e-mail sent to his lieutenants, Loring described the situation as "bad news" that left him "very disappointed."

"Each location - the east Pasco chapter serves five sites, from the Sumter County line west to U.S. 41 - "will be challenged to meet our stated goal. &hellip I expect it will be a lean Christmas all around."

Now, when the fabled Grinch made off with the trees, wreaths, gifts, feast food and such, all the Whos down in Whoville proved that Christmas comes anyway. And, as Scrooge learned, this is "a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices."
Yes, Christmas will come, and the faithful will celebrate whatever shows up under their trees or in their stockings. Nonetheless, the failure to know, welcome and share the true and compelling calling of Abundance diminishes all who proclaim the wonder of the season.

Generosity Improves The Giver
The ball is in our court, and the clock is ticking. Distributions in Trilacoochee, Dade City, Zephyrhills, Wesley Chapel and Land O' Lakes are planned for Saturday; the same day, West Pasco Toys For Tots, facing a similar shortage, will distribute toys from Mitchell High School in Trinity.

Toys For Tots boxes still can be found in the usual locations around the county, ready and expectant. So, what'll it be? Shall we respond like Scrooge, before he was rehabilitated by the Christmas ghosts - "I wish to be left alone!" Or will we purposefully demonstrate ourselves to be generous with strangers and, by such generosity, improve ourselves and our surroundings? Now is our moment. Let's seize it.

Tom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.

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