Toy Bender

With the final push towards the inevitable mega-holiday for the Western World known as Christmas coming at us once again like a unstoppable freight train, it’s time for a quick plea to give to those in need. I grew up under a super conservative household, so I’m no pinko liberal that believes that it’s the government’s job to feed and clothe everyone, but when it comes to kids who are wanting it’s time to spread some love.

If you haven’t contributed in any way to society and you have a couple of extra bucks that you might otherwise spend on yourself, then I’d recommend either Toys For Tots or some other organizations like it that allow you to buy a gift and then send it on it’s way to a child in need. What’s great about them is that instead of just giving money that you don’t have any idea where it goes or how it’s being used, you get to pick the gift that will bring some joy to a kid that might be in extra need of some this time of year. If you don’t know where a Toys For Tots drop off is you can head on over to this site and find the nearest one to you. Hell, if that aint your thing you can even donate straight up cash to the program.

I’ve also participated in (and am doing so again this year) in a charity drive that gets you the names of kids and what they want in a sort of massive adopt a family program. This year my fiancee got some of the requests from her work and since the kids that are requesting are slighly vague it’s pretty tough to try to get them exactly what they want. One of the requests was from a five year old who wants, “A Spider-Man and a car with batteries.” Does this kid want a Spider-Man in a car that takes batteries? In that case I pray to Krom that the Spider-Man Bump and Go is what he wants. Even as I write this I have a feeling I’m going to go to the store and buy an extra Spider-Man figure just in case I’m wrong and that he really wants a Spider-Man figure and a separate car that takes batteries (whatever that would be). Hey, I don’t want to be the jerk that didn’t exactly get this kid what he wanted.

Either way that you go, I encourage every toy collector to part with some cash they might otherwise use for themselves to extend a helping hand. It feels good to do good and do some good for goodness sake. Or something like that.

By the way, I’d like to bitch for a moment. This G.I. Joe shortage is pissing me off because I planned to buy some figs to give to dump in a Toys For Tots bin in an effort to spread the Joe love out there. If anyone does so let me know, it was kind of a goal of mine lately and I have yet to see a single figure in the stores this month.

Update: I managed to find two Joes to give to Toys For Tots. Two is better than none I suppose. What really irks me is that while Target’s peg hooks contained no Joes, they were filled with Elite Force figures. I also did cave and bought that extra Spider-Man. I can’t be responsible for ruining anyone’s Christmas.