The Smoky Mountain Toys for Tots campaign has a new home.
When Randy Hughes learned he had to move Toys for Tots’ headquarters out of Holly Springs Plaza earlier this year, the regional coordinator was left with a storeroom full of toys and no idea where he might be able to put them.
Now, after months of searching and nearly being forced to end the Smoky Mountain campaign, Hughes has secured a new location from which to direct the organization’s efforts.
“I basically put on Facebook, ‘I’m shutting the Toys for Tots down’ because I can’t do it without a place to work out of, and we’d been having trouble finding volunteers,” said Hughes. “When I put that on there, it was like everybody came out of the woodwork: ‘No, no, don’t shut it down! We’ll find you a place,’ and I probably got 10 offers. This one here came up, and [they] said we could use it rent-free, and they would use it as a tax write-off.”
From the organization’s new location in the former P2 gun store across from Ruby Cinemas, Hughes will begin to tackle one of the most unusual Christmas seasons in the organization’s history. With so many people having been out of work at some point this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hughes expects a large increase in demand for toys.
“We are looking at demand probably going up by 30 percent,” said Hughes. “With all the layoffs and people out of work and everything, I hope it’s only a 30 percent increase, but it may be 50.”
With so many area families hurting financially after this year’s lockdown, Toys for Tots will no doubt have a difficult time securing the amount of toys they need this year. In addition to damaging families’ Christmas funds this winter, the virus also complicates Hughes and his volunteers’ collection process.
“I’ll buy about $30,000 worth of toys a year. Close to $20,000 of that is money I collect standing out in my dress blues by Walmart and things,” said Hughes. “The other $10,000 is people sending checks in. With COVID being the way it is, I don’t feel safe for myself or for the general public with standing out collecting. … On the average day I’m probably in contact with a thousand people.”
While Hughes has been keeping piles of surplus toys in his house, carport and deck until he can move in to the new location, this holiday season will present a significant challenge for Toys for Tots. Most of the events the organization has relied on for donations in past years have been cancelled due to the pandemic, and Hughes said he is considering lowering the Smoky Mountain campaign’s seven-toys-per-child guideline closer to the national standard of two. In order to combat the likely shortage of new toys, the organization is also planning a new fundraiser this year.
“One thing I’m trying this year is a bass tournament that we’re doing Oct. 3 at Lake Chatuge [in north Georgia],” said Hughes. “We’ll have a $100 entry fee per boat with two fishers, and I’m hoping I get 20 boats in. That’s $2,000, and the prize money going out would be close to $900. Hopefully we will get close to $1,100 on the day, but still that’s not even a drop [compared to] what we’d get standing out by Walmart.”
As the pandemic continues to hurt local families and businesses, Macon County’s charities feel a chain reaction as well. Despite the difficulties of what has been a unique year in Toys for Tots’ history, Hughes said the Marine Corps Reserve organization will apply the same determination its coordinators have relied on in the corps.
“The hook that got me was when we delivered some toys to the [National Guard] armory in Sylva by Southwestern Community College,” said Hughes. “The families came to pick them up, and one little girl – one doll – the smile on her face hooked me. That makes it all worthwhile.”