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Toys for Tots gets gift: new facility

 
Published July 20, 1996|Updated Sept. 16, 2005

The Marine Corps League is opening its Christmas present to the community early this year: a new 720-square-foot storage building and repair facility at Holiday Detachment 567, off Rowan Road and Baillie Drive.

The wood-frame, 1{-story building will store toys and bicycles for the group's Toys For Tots program, which gave out more than 4,000 toys to 914 children last year, from toddlers to teenagers.

"The money to build that building (about $5,000) came from the MCL Detachment,"volunteer Norris Buchter said. "It was mainly because we were renting storage space all over the place. We thought that we would consolidate it, and make it more accessible for drop-offs."

Currently, the league has about 50 bicycles in a storage shed in Bayonet Point, Buchter said. They will be transferred to the new building and repaired there in time for this year's Christmas giveaway, he said.

A building dedication ceremony is set from 2 to 5 p.m. today at the MCL Detachment headquarters, 7241 Baillie Drive. State Rep. Michael Fasano, R-New Port Richey, is expected to attend.

The event is open to the public and refreshments will be served. "I think it would be nice . . . if they would bring a toy to donate, too," said Barbara Druback, a Toys for Tots volunteer.