Wireless Zone Partners with Toys for Tots this Holiday Season

The Wireless Zone- Verizon Wireless Premium Retailer franchises of Eastern Connecticut are paying it forward again this holiday season and partnering with the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Annual Toys for Tots Campaign to help deliver new toys to less fortunate children in the community. Locally owned and family operated, Wireless Zone is committed to going above and beyond not only for their customers, but the community in which they live and work.

This holiday season, there will be collection bins for toy donations in each of the fourteen Wireless Zone stores in the area. Monetary donations will also be accepted.

Toys for Tots is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to raise funds and toys for children during the holidays. The charity aims to supplement the collections of local coordinators by raising money to defray the cost of conducting annual campaigns as well. As one of the top rated charities in the United States, ‘over 97% of donations go to the mission of providing toys, books, and other gifts to less fortunate children.’

The program is run by the United States Marine Corps Reserve, which distributes the collected toys to children whose parents have limited resources to buy presents during the holiday season. The success of the campaign is dependent on local business’s hosting the toy drives, and more importantly, members of the community dropping off new, unwrapped toys in the collection boxes. Collected and organized, the toys are then delivered by local organizations such as Young Marines, church groups, and local welfare agencies.

Wireless Zone has been a collection location for several years now for Toys for Tots. As leaders in the local business community, franchise owners Scott Gladstone and Neil Ryan and their dedicated teams are inspired by the cause. “When customers walk through the door with a toy in their hand, we all get so excited that Wireless Zone is the place they come to in order to drop off their gift. It’s a moment for us too, just as much as it will be for the child who receives that present on Christmas morning,” says Neil Ryan, franchise owner.

Roughly one out of every five children in the United States live below the poverty line and desperately need community participation in order to make their holiday season a little brighter. In 2013, Toys for Tots donated over 15 million gifts to more than 7 million children. This year, Wireless Zone and Toys for Tots are partnering together again to encourage toy donations, such as books, backpacks, board games, electronics and etc.

Wireless Zone donated over $100,000 to several nonprofit organizations in Eastern Connecticut in 2013. Between fourteen stores and over a hundred dedicated employees, the Wireless Zone teams were able to give back to their community while raising awareness for these organizations within the stores. Another $194,000 dollars in grants from the Wireless Zone Foundation were also given to charities this year.

Please help the Wireless Zone teams continue to support the local community by raising toys for the Toys for Tots Campaign during this 2014 holiday season. Wireless Zone is open seven days a week, from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. Looking forward to collecting many toys and wishing everyone a happy holiday season!