Due to resource shortages in recent years, the organization is lowering the maximum age of children they serve from its usual 16 years old to 13 years old.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — Toys for Tots has made its mark on Kent County by delivering toys to thousands of children in need every year.
“We serviced over 13,000 kids in Kent County last year,” Toys for Tots’ Kent County Coordinator Jeff DeJonge said.
But in the last few years, DeJonge explained how it’s been challenging for the organization to keep up with demand as some of its resources have dried up.
“We still distributed toys during COVID,” DeJonge said. “We did have to reach into our reserves quite a bit during that, so the donations were down, the cash donations were down, the businesses weren’t open, and weren’t able to donate money.”
As a result, Kent County’s program announced this year that it will reduce the age range …