Alpha Tau Omega fraternity hosted a toy drive benefiting Toys for Tots. The public brought unwrapped toys to the ATO house Monday through Thursday. Fraternity members also accepted monetary donations and unwrapped toys in front of Wal-mart Friday through Sunday.
All of the toys will be staying in Oktibbeha County. Monetary donations were used to purchase more unwrapped toys for the children of Oktibbeha County. T-shirts were also sold by fraternity members, and the profit from the T-shirts also benefited Toys for Tots.
“It’s the first time we’ve done Toys for Tots,” said ATO philanthropy chairman Micah Bauer. “We’re hoping to turn it into an annual thing.”
There will be a public relations event today with Marines coming to pick up the toys, Bauer added.
“We really want to give back to the community,” fraternity member Steve Richardson said. “Right now our goal is to seed a yearly charity.”
ATO member Tom Mason said the fraternity hopes to build a regional philanthropy with Toys for Tots. He said it is easy to work with the Toys for Tots organizers.
“There are lots of people that help with Toys for Tots in Starkville,” Mason said. “Maybe in the future we will be able to collaborate with them all and make Toys for Tots a big deal for Starkville.”