Thatcher cosmetology students help formerly active Marine Sgt. James Tippey get Toys for Tots ready
By Jon Johnson
THATCHER – To represent the Marine Corps, a Marine must adhere to the required grooming standards of being clean-shaven (with exceptions for a neatly trimmed mustache). To help facilitate his adherence to the rules, in his duties for Toys for Tots, formerly active Marine Sgt. James Tippey sat down to have his beard shaved and hair cut in front of an audience of raucous students at Thatcher High School on Tuesday.
Thatcher cosmetology students Brooklyn Wright and Morgan Cluff took to the task of shearing the “Duck Dynasty” off of Sgt. Tippey, with guidance from instructors Jodi Stailey and Stacey Lunt.
Tippey has been volunteering as the local Marine and face for Toys for Tots for the past decade and turns “No-Shave November” on its head every year to get into the role after growing his facial hair out for the past year.
“I love my beard, I do,” Tippey said. “I like hiding my face the rest of the year, but this campaign is bigger than I am, so it’s something that I still stick to.”
Sign-ups to receive gifts from Toys for Tots continue throughout November.
The Toys for Tots program began in 1947 when Major Bill Hendricks’ wife, Diane, crafted a homemade Raggedy Ann-type doll and asked her husband to donate it to a worthy organization that would present it to a needy child for Christmas. After not being able to locate such an agency, Diane suggested Bill start his own. That year, Hendricks and his Marine Reserve Unit collected and distributed roughly 5,000 toys to needy children in Los Angeles, and the Toys for Tots program was created. It has grown since then, and the program now gives away more than 18 million toys to more than 7 million children each year. Additionally, during the pandemic, the program distributed more than 2 million toys and books to children in need who were most affected by the virus.
The Toys for Tots program has given more than 18,000 gifts to more than 6,000 children in Graham County for the past five years, with each child receiving at least three gifts. The gifts are tailored to each child from a questionnaire that parents or guardians fill out when they sign up their child. Coordinators are constantly hearing from parents that the toys they give are just what their children were hoping for.
“I’m surprised every year with the number of toys that goes out,” Tippey said. “This is the best thing that I do with myself. Probably one of the things I have the most pride in. I love this campaign and what it does for kids.”
With assistance from the local Pepsi plant and the use of a storage facility in Solomon, the local Toys-for-Tots has become a depot where they can receive large shipments of toys from the national organization and parcel out pallets to other coordinators throughout Arizona and New Mexico.
The program is also dependent on local support, and donations of new and unwrapped toys can be made at any Toys for Tots donation box at stores around town or at any Toys for Tots event.
The Toys for Tots program is a top-rated charity, with roughly 97 percent of monetary donations used to provide toys, books, and other gifts to children, and only about 3 percent for administrative and fundraising costs.
To sign up your child or children to receive gifts from the Toys for Tots program, visit either The Way at 555 Entertainment Ave., Safford Church of God at 901 S. Central Ave. from 12:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., or the Graham County Health Department’s WIC office at 820 W. Main St. from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
In Greenlee County, sign-ups are taking place in Duncan and Morenci at the Social Club, Arizona @ Work, and Holy Trinity Catholic Church.
Locally, 100 percent of all donations are used to provide toys to children, and the organization seeks toys year-round to get the best bang for the buck. Numerous businesses help out by allowing the roughly 100 toy drop-off boxes and 100 donation jars to be placed in their shops throughout Graham and Greenlee counties. So, drop a new, unwrapped toy in a donation box or drop a buck in a donation jar and know with confidence that it is going where intended.
