Brookline Bank Collects Nearly 3K Toys In Toys For Tots Drive

WALTHAM, MA — A Toys for Tots toy drive collected nearly 3,000 toys for kids at a Massachusetts bank chain/

Brookline Bank announced that 2,850 toys were collected for Marine Toys for Tots across its 29 banking offices in the Greater Boston area, including at Brookline's Main Street location in Waltham.

“We really appreciate the kindness of our clients, staff, and local communities in helping to make this toy drive a huge success,” said Darryl Fess, President and CEO of Brookline Bank. “These toys will brighten the holidays for many underprivileged children throughout the region.”

The toy drive, which ran from Nov. 6 to Dec. 8, collected donations of new unwrapped toys at any Brookline Bank location. The toys will now be distributed to children in need in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk, and Suffolk Counties, bank officials said.

Sponsored by the Marine Corps Reserves, Toys for Tots is organized locally in Waltham by Toys for Tots Coordinator SSgt. Tyler Short.

Last year in Middlesex and Essex Counties, 120,527 toys were distributed to 80,172 children who might not otherwise have gotten any Christmas gifts. Nationally, about 625 million toys were handed out to 291 million kids.

The Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is an IRS-recognized nonprofit public charity created in 1991. The foundation, created in 1991, uses 97 percent of every donation to buy toys for children in need.