Toys for Tots Expanding in Wakefield

Wakefield normally contributes thousands and thousands of toys to the annual Toys for Tots Drive, and this year, there will be even more places to help make a difference in a child's life this holiday season.

That's because the Reading Fire Department, lead by Reading Firefighter and Emergency Medical Technician Bob Beck have already positioned 23 Toys for Tots collection boxes throughout Wakefield in order to make it more convenient for donors to contribute new, unwrapped toys.

Beck said the bigger push in the area, which also involves 120 dropoff locations in Wakefield, Andover, Stoneham, Lynnfield, North Reading and Reading, is due to a large amount of requests for toys that have already been submitted to the Marines.

“The Marines that we work for started getting requests for toys in August,” Beck said at a recent Reading Board of Selectmen meeting.

The charity has never received requests that early, he said, and the Middlesex County chapter received more requests last year than any year before.

More than 68,000 families requested help from the Marine-run charity in 2010, up from about 40,000 in previous years.

“That’s an awful lot of people who need help,” he said. “We’re going to need help, and we’re going to need it soon.”

The new dropoff boxes will be additional to the ones in the managed by , two Wakefield residents who, year after year, have lead the Toys for Tots drive for the town. 

Toys for Tots Dropoff Boxes in Wakefield:
Active Day Adult Medical Daycare, 607 North Avenue, Ste 18
Arbella Insurance, 101 Edgewater Dr. Ste 160
Compass Point Retirement, 401 Edgewater Dr.
Comverse, 200 Quanapowitt
Curley Insurance Co, 35 Albion Street
Dance Studio of Wakefield, 456 Main Street
Dextrys, 201 Edgewater Drive Ste. 225
Eastern Insurance Co, 607 North Street
Edgewater Technology, Inc., 20 Harvard Mill Square
Kelmar Associates, 401 Edgewater Dr. Ste. 500
Mazonson Co., 701 Edgewater Drive
Metcalf & Eddy, 701 Edgewater Dr.
MG Fitness, 10 Broadway St.
Natgun Corp, 11 Teal Rd.
North East Vccational School, 100 Hemlock Rd.
North Shore Cheer Explosion, 65 New Salem St.
Northwestern Mutual, 107 Audubon Rd. Bldg. 2 Ste. 205
Public Safety Building, 1 Union St.
Sheraton Hotel, 1 Audubon Road
Standard Insurance, 401 edgewater dr. suite 520
The Haircutters Inc. 11 Lincoln St.
The Outsource Group, 7 Audubon Road
Wakefield High School, 60 Farm St.
Walgreens Co., 572 Main St.