The following actual accounts reveal that even the smallest positive influence can make a lasting impression on a child, and motivate him/her to pursue a path to a productive adulthood.

• Jim McKellar grew up in a children's home in Houston, Texas. At Christmas, there would have been no toys for the children had it not been for the local U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Unit. The annual visit by the Marines made a lasting impression on Jim. After graduating from high school, he worked his way through college and earned a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. Some ten years later, he returned to the city where he had grown up. While a Marine Captain, he was responsible for the same Toys for Tots program that motivated him and countless other children to become successful adults. Jim attacked his task with passion, because he wanted Toys for Tots to make a difference in the lives of today's children just as it had for him a decade and a half earlier. He succeeded in making his program in Houston one of the best in the nation. Today, Jim is enjoying a successful career as a Marine Officer. A 1996 graduate of the Marine Corps' prestigious Command of Staff College, LtCol James W. McKellar continues to serve with distinction as a U.S. Marine.
  
  
• During December 1994, a Toys for Tots dinner event was held at Sardi's Restaurant in New York City. Vincent Sardi, the owner, served in the Marine Corps during World War II. Like all Marines, he takes pride in his Marine Corps background and never misses an opportunity to support the Corps. In the course of the evening, a young woman attending the dinner related that she grew up in a poor New Jersey family. Her parents could not afford to buy Christmas toys for their children. The first time she had Christmas toys was when members of the local Marine Corps Reserve Unit delivered toys to her and her siblings. Marines and their Toys for Tots program made a lasting impression. Her husband, a friend of Vincent Sardi, received an invitation to the Toys for Tots dinner. When she saw the invitation, she immediately told her husband that they would attend and would donate generously to the program - and they did just that. She commented that Toys for Tots motivated her to rise from her poor beginnings and grow into an adult committed to making a positive contribution to society. She wants other needy children to realize the same benefits from Toys for Tots that she experienced as a child. Therefore, she never misses an opportunity to support the Marines and their Toys for Tots program.
  
  
• Aaron Jacobs grew up in a poor family on a small farm in South Carolina. The only toys he and his siblings received at Christmas were those provided by Marines from a nearby Marine Corps Reserve Unit. When Aaron finished high school, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and progressed from Private to Staff Sergeant. While stationed in Washington, DC in the early 1990's, Aaron had an opportunity to work with the local Toys for Tots program. Because of the positive impact the Marines and their Toys for Tots program had on him, Aaron volunteered to work on Toys for Tots during his off duty hours. Aaron wanted to be a role model for needy children just as Marines had been for him. Aaron proudly boasts that Toys for Tots played a major role in molding his life. Today, Aaron, a retired Marine and college graduate, is a successful businessman in Atlanta, GA.
  
  
• Marine Gunnery Sergeant (retired) Tim Shepard was seven years old when a Marine in a dress blue uniform came to his house one Christmas with toys. It had been a hard year for the family, and Shepard's mother later told him that if it hadn't been for the Marines and their Toys for Tots program, Tim would not have received any presents that Christmas. "That really impressed me," says Shepard. "Seeing a Marine in uniform and getting those toys from him stuck with me and when I was old enough, I joined the Marine Corps." That event left such an impression on him that he eventually ended up running the Toys for Tots program in Atlanta. In the year before Shepard's involvement, the Atlanta program collected only 10,000 toys and was operating far below its potential. By the time Gunny Shepard turned the program over to his replacement in 1992, the program distributed over 330,000 toys. It was Shepard's way of giving back something in return for what he had received many years ago when Marines came to his door.
  
• Recently, the President of the Foundation contacted the Executive Vice President of a Fortune 500 Corporation. In the course of the conversation, the Executive Vice President related that in 1948, while he was a young boy, his family experienced financial problems. As a consequence there was no money for Christmas gifts. On Christmas Eve, 1948, U.S. Marines delivered new toys for all the children of his family. He has never forgotten the impact this event had on his life. A week later, the Foundation received a $25,000 donation from this corporation.