This should come as a surprise to no one, but many kids out there won’t receive gifts this holiday season. Times are hard for everyone, but luckily that’s where Toys For Tots comes in. People donate toys to the organization and kids who otherwise wouldn’t have a fun holiday can get some kick butt presents. And to help encourage people to donate to Toys for Tots, the Geeks for Tots contest gives you a chance to win lots of cool prizes just for donating to Toys for Tots!
I’ve had experience “adopting” a family for the holidays, and I really enjoyed knowing that I was helping to brighten someone’s holiday. Of course I’m behind this contest 100%, but I asked Vincent at Geeks for Tots a few questions so that you can become more familiar with the organization.
How did you get into this?
Well it’s for selfish reasons. When G.I. Joe was having a 25th anniversary the line wasn’t getting much shelf space. I thought it was a shame, since 25 years ago whole aisles would have been dedicated to G.I. Joe. I thought, “How could I get G.I. Joes into kid’s hands and possibly make more Joe fans?” What followed was the brilliant idea to try to get people to buy G.I. Joes to put into the Toys For Tots system in order to spark interest in the line with kids.
Well of course that quickly transformed into wanting to get any toys into the hands of kids. Now I do it because it’s fun and helps kids, but I still buy G.I. Joes to drop off with Toys for Tots.
Why Joes for Tots, leading to why the switch to Geeks for Tots?
Like I said, the original idea was G.I. Joe based, but after taking a year off from the contest I thought that it would be easier to market the thing to a broader spectrum of people with a more general geek name. Plus the focus of the contest was not on G.I. Joes, so it just makes a lot more sense to do it this way.
What’s the takeaway message of the whole thing?
Kids need help! Yes there’s charities to make sure they have food an clothing, but it’s such a depressing thought of getting nothing for Christmas. I had a friend once who wasn’t that well off that got shampoo for Christmas. Shampoo! Toys for Tots helps lifts the spirits a bit and gives some hope in what should be a fun time.
Any memorable stories since you’ve started the charity?
Uh nothing really except some of the donation pics I’ve gotten. People always look super happy in them. And some people have donated a whole bunch of stuff. One family had a whole mini-van worth of toys. Another guy started up a toy drive and entered and he ended up winning the grand prize. It was a totally random thing, so it was cool to see karma going in a positive direction for once.
So, are you convinced? Ready to enter the contest?! Well, there are two ways to enter:
- You can take a picture of yourself donating to a Toys for Tots drop off box and send it to us.
- Send proof of an online cash donation to the Toys For Tots website (they send an email receipt that can be forwarded).
Both entries should go to [email protected]. Please include “Geeks for Tots Entry” in the subject line.
You can find drop off locations here or you can call your local Toys For Tots representative.
For a full list of prizes, as well as official contest rules, be sure to visit the Geeks For Tots website!
We used Toys for Tots as one of our Charities last year, but it was confusing since their seemed to be different ones for each state. Perhaps a single chartity listed with Ebay/Paypal would help increase donations.