The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Editorials

December 13, 2012

82 years strong

Imagine this scenario: You’ve been laid off from your job. You have another baby on the way. All the money you can scrape together goes to keep the heat and lights on. Christmas is mere days away and the other kids are clamoring for this or that toy — a toy you can’t buy because there just isn’t enough money.

For more than 80 years, Mac’s Toy Fund has been able to come to the rescue, helping folks in such dire straits provide a brighter holiday for their families.

Back in the depths of the Great Depression, Beckley Post Herald Editor Ted “Mac” McDowell saw the same need. Unlike many others, he had a solution. Making a plea through the newspaper, Mac asked readers to help him provide some Christmas cheer for children whose parents were down on their luck.

Readers responded and so Mac’s Toy Fund was born.

In the decades that have followed since that founding in 1930 there have been many changes. We have seen war and peace, renewed prosperity and the return of recession, the metamorphosis of simple one-piece toys to sophisticated electronics.

But through it all, Mac’s has remained, there every year to help those in need.

What helps keep Mac’s strong is its basic simplicity. You give — money, used toys, bicycles, yourself as a volunteer. And in return you receive the satisfaction of knowing you helped thousands of children have a happier holiday.

Mac’s does not have administrators’ fees to deflect any of your gifts away from the children. Every penny is used to help them. All of the work is volunteer. The funds received pay for new toys, repairs to used toys and bikes, venue rental, fruit and new coats, hats and gloves.

It takes every bit of the $25,000 goal to make the event, scheduled Saturday morning at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center, successful.

We know that today’s financial times aren’t the best. That is why Mac’s Toy Fund is frugal with the dollars you entrust to it.

The goal has not yet been reached. Won’t you please help sustain Mac’s Toy Fund this year and for the years to come?



Donations can be sent to:

Mac’s Toy Fund

P.O. Box 2398

Beckley, WV 25802

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Editorials