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As many of you know, the Toys for Tots organization which is administered by the United States Marine Corp is drastically low on toys and funds this year. If an immediate influx of donations of toys and money is not received in the next couple of days, more children than ever will find nothing under their Christmas trees this year.

A CHALLENGE FOR MOM BLOGGERS!

I’m challenging all of my fellow “Mom Bloggers” to post at least one blog post between the dates of December 20th – December 22nd that highlights the Toys for Tots organization and gives readers information on how they can donate.

I’m extending the challenge to Mom Bloggers in particular, but if you have a blog of any kind and with any audience, this effort needs to be publicized!

I’m also asking my Twitter friends to submit at least one Tweet this weekend and on Monday that includes the Toys for Tots URL (http://www.toysfortots.org).

A donation of even just $5 can buy a toy for a young child, so no donation is too small! Any effort we can make as bloggers will help needy children this holiday season. Think of the kids who have likely already had a tough year losing a home in the foreclosure crisis…wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to have at least one gift for them?

While most locations are still accepting toy donations, a cash donation given online goes directly into the pipeline so that volunteers can purchase toys for the neediest children in areas where they are needed most. It also gives volunteers the ability to provide gift cards for teens and purchase toys they are specifically low on (baby toys and teen gifts).

Donations can be made online at: http://www.toysfortots.org  

So here’s how to participate in the challenge:

1. Steal parts of this post if you like…all I ask is that you reword it a bit and not copy and paste the whole thing.

2. Visit the resource links below for more information to flesh out your own posts or provide additional information not in this post.

3. Post! And be sure to email your readers about it!

4. Ask visitors to Digg your post, and use other social bookmarking services!

5. Hop on Twitter and tweet your post! Ask others to retweet it (use RT in your tweet) and then be sure to follow up with a couple of additional tweets over the next couple of days.

6. Important! Come back here and post what you did! Include an URL! This is how we will keep track of how far this spreads! If you tell someone to join the challenge, give them the link to this post so they can report too!

RESOURCE LINKS

Call to Action Brochure (PDF): Explains the history and mission of Toys for Tots
http://toysfortots.org/documents/actionbrochure.pdf

The official Toys for Tots site: http://www.toysfortots.org

The Official Toys for Tots Logo: Right-Click and select, “Save Picture As”
http://toysfortots.org/promotional_media/official_logo.asp

Promotional Posters: Might make some nice alternative graphics for your posts
http://toysfortots.org/promotional_media/promotional_posters/default.asp

YouTube Promotional Videos: Embed on Facebook, your site, in posts etc…or just email links to readers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg9Wbe18QYg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzzfMsLez4I
(there are more videos there as well, do a YouTube search for “Toys for Tots”

Article from the Chicago Sun Times: “It’s the only gift they get: Donations Hit Hard by Economic Crisis…”
http://www.suntimes.com/holiday/1337626,CST-NWS-toys18.article

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