Toys for Lil Troops

Photo By Sgt. Caitlyn Smoyer | Opal and Stan Pinkus (center), the founders of Toys for Lil Troops, pose with the Soldiers who received free toys for the holiday season Dec. 1 at the Marne Reception Center on Fort Stewart, Ga. The United States Veterans Corps donated 52,000 pounds of toys to the program to be given to military families across the east coast. (U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Caitlyn C. Smoyer)  

FORT STEWART, GA, UNITED STATES

12.01.2016

Story by Sgt. Caitlyn Smoyer 

3rd Division Sustainment Brigade

Soldiers from 3rd Infantry Division Sustainment Brigade joined with the United States Veterans Corps (USVC) Dec. 1 at the Marne Reception Center on Fort Stewart, Ga. to give toys to Soldiers in need during the holiday season.
Toys for Lil Troops is a program that, through the USVC, donates toys to children from low income or deployed families.
Single parents and lower enlisted personnel with multiple children were the priority.
“Our focus is across the spectrum of 3rd Inf. Div. through the in-processing Soldiers,” said 1st Sgt. Donald Davis, the first sergeant for MRC.
The USVC consists of veterans that perform community service projects & events in military and civilian communities. Its foundation came from a group of veterans working together with the Home Builders Association in 2007 during Operation Coming Home, where a disabled combat veteran was given a brand new home. Upon the completion of the project, the veterans decided to start their own organization, which became known as the USVC.
Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Stan Pinkus and his wife, Opal, have been members of the USVC since 2009, but they have been collecting toys for military children since 2001. Pinkus initially felt the need to help out families of deployed Marines after 9/11 but later realized Soldiers were helping out just as much as the Marines overseas.
“We managed to collect enough toys to start supporting Fort Bragg,” Pinkus said.
After joining the USVC, he continued collecting toys and founded the Toys for Lil Troops program. He teamed up with Linda McKnight, the relocation program manager of Fort Stewart’s Army Community Service program, in order to coordinate the details for getting the toys onto post and into the hands of the Soldiers in need.
“It makes me feel good that people can come together on one accord to support one another and those that are less fortunate,” McKnight said.
This year was the second consecutive year Pinkus supported Fort Stewart. Last year, his program received about 17,000 pounds of donated toys, but this year it was more than 52,000. It was all donated by the USVC to be distributed throughout the east coast. It broke the Guinness world record for most toys donated in 24 hours, which was previously set just shy of 46,000 pounds.
“None of this could have been as successful had it not been for the United States Veterans Corps,” Opal said. “We have to give thanks to everybody in the community that came together to do this.”
Soldiers designated for this event were allowed to choose two toys per child as well as one game for the family. However, after everyone made their way through, there were still plenty of toys left to allow them all to run through again, choosing two more toys per child. The toys that remained at the end of the event were packed up to be donated to another location.
“It just warms my heart knowing that we could be a blessing to someone else, especially during this time of the season,” said Capt. Vernita Handsborough, the commander of MRC.
Pinkus said he plans to continue providing toys for military families “until someone pulls the plug.”

• Date Taken: 12.01.2016
• Date Posted: 12.05.2016 16:46
• Story ID: 216494
• Location: FORT STEWART, GA, US