Northern Michigan’s Toys for Tots Network Braces for Record Need

Navigating the Happiest (and Hardest) Time of the Year

As so many best-places-to-visit lists will tell you, there’s nowhere quite like northern Michigan. Mike Kent, assistant coordinator for Toys for Tots Northwest Michigan, agrees—but not just because of our beaches, bays, and food scene.

“We live and work in an extremely generous community,” he says. “And in the years that I have been doing this program, we have never fallen short.”

That’ll be true again for Toys for Tots this holiday season, even as more northern Michigan families find themselves in financial limbo between high housing and grocery costs and, for some, the extra overwhelm of the longest-ever federal government shutdown, which left tens of thousands of workers across the state without paychecks and now awaiting backpay.

Though the government has reopened, the delay in SNAP food benefits has meant impacted families have to figure out how they’ll fill the fridge—never mind filling stockings. Michigan ranks within the top 10 for number of residents receiving SNAP, and within Kent’s five-county Toys for Tots coverage area—Antrim, Benzie, Grand Traverse, Kalkaska, and Leelanau—the state’s most recent data shows that 20,500+ Michiganders relied on SNAP assistance last year.

More than 7,300 of them were children.

“A lot of parents are … going, ‘You know, I want my kid to have a great Christmas just like everyone else, but I have no idea how I'm going to pay for it,’” says Kent.

Fewer Resources Means More Need

With more families anticipated to seek help this year, Kent and his network of partner agencies like the Salvation Army, Father Fred, and Project Feed the Kids, are strategizing how to meet that demand.

Last year, they delivered 35,000 toys to more than 5,000 children across northwest Michigan. Weighing in on the consensus at their latest meeting, Kent expects 2025’s numbers to climb.

“It is always difficult at this point in the campaign to get an accurate assessment of where things are,” he admits. “But the overall impression from the agencies was [that] they are expecting an increase in toy requests.”

Those agencies are also expecting an increase in food, clothing, and financial requests, too—all needs Kent hopes his campaign won’t detract from as everyone works together to help families this holiday season.

Showing Up for Teens

Making sure the needs of the entire northern Michigan community are met means remembering that teens deserve to wake up to shiny wrapped presents too. Julie McClain and Kathy Baker, who run the Grayling-Crawford County Toys for Tots campaign, say they served nearly 500 children last year, thanks to both toy and cash/check donations. With those dollars, they try to focus on the 13-18 age group, an age range that’s often overlooked when shoppers drop Barbies and Hot Wheels into donation bins.

“We always, always, always need teenage stuff,” stresses Baker. “When they say ‘Toys for Tots,’ people think toys. They don’t think about these 14- or 15 year-old kids that don’t play with toys anymore—but they still need something for Christmas.”

Up in Gaylord, Toys for Tots coordinator Michael Hoeft says gifts like makeup, science kits, hunting gear, remote control cars, earrings, and arts and crafts kits are always hits with teens. And when in doubt, go for classic family games like Monopoly or Apples to Apples.

“We give every family a family game in an effort to keep them playing together and spending time together,” says Hoeft, who expects last year’s number of 600 families served to jump again for this toy drive.

“Typically we are up every year regardless of the economy,” he says. “As the word gets out [and] more people are aware of us, we typically go up 50 to 100 children a year. And this year I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s considerably more than that.”

But the number Toys for Tots leaders are most concerned with is how many parents might be feeling sheepish about asking for assistance getting gifts under the tree. Easing that burden is exactly what the organization is there for stresses TFT Northwest Michigan’s Kent.

“Please reach out for help,” he says. The earlier the better. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve got to get that across, especially to parents who are not used to reaching out for help. Make sure your kid has a great Christmas.”

How to Donate

There are plenty of opportunities to support your neighborhood Toys for Tots campaign, from volunteering your time for collection and distribution to getting gussied up and attending a fundraising event like NMC’s Swingin’ for the Season jazz concert on Dec. 6, where every toy donation earns a free ticket!

Here are a few more ways you can help Up North families enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.

1. Keep it local. If you want to make sure that your check, cash, or online donation goes directly to kids in your community, specify your local campaign (include the coordinator’s name or contact info) when making it. Otherwise, your contribution could get funnelled to any of the roughly 1,000 Toys for Tots campaigns in the country, explains Grayling–Crawford’s Baker. Not that that’s necessarily a bad thing of course, but smaller areas like hers can see fewer donations than larger cities, even when the need is just as great.

2. Businesses can give too. Corporate or small business fundraisers, like donating a portion of sales or offering discounts for toy donations, can make a big impact for local campaigns Baker adds.

3. Offer space. Like most campaigns, Gaylord’s Hoeft relies on donated buildings—usually empty offices or storefronts—for toy collection and sorting, and finding it is his single biggest challenge each year. “We need between 6,000 and 8,000 square feet of space to set up our operation. We have to have heat and a restroom. So we can’t just work out of a self-storage building,” he explains.

4. New toys only, please. This might be one of the rare times thrifting or regifting isn’t the best option, since all Toys for Tots donations must be new (and unwrapped).

5. Double your impact. Support northern Michigan businesses while giving back by keeping your donation purchases local. Traverse City’s Underground Toys has a ton of eco-friendly plushies and finger puppets, while Stoney Cabin Toys in Elk Rapids offers rows of teen-approved fidget toys. Or, stop into either Horizon Books location to stock up on easy readers, books, and puzzles.

6. Find your nearest drop-off bin. Those red-and-white bins sometimes blend right in with the holiday decor a little too well. Use the “Donate a Toy” feature at ToysForTots.org to easily locate the one closest to you.

7. When in doubt, take a cue from your own crew. Not sure what to buy? The official Toys for Tots site suggests choosing something your favorite kid or teen would love, whether that’s an art set, a football, or a great book that’s become a family bedtime classic.

To learn more about receiving resources or donating, visit ToysForTots.org

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