As LINC’s Carl Wade was picking up a load of gifts from the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots warehouse, he saw a problem.

The days to Christmas were counting down. It looked like a mountainous proportion of the some 40,000 toys the Marines in Kansas City collect each year was still piled on the vast floor.

And Wade saw just three Marines “and me,” he said. He heard them talking about their dilemma.

Wade asked: “Do you need volunteers?”

Within the hour LINC had summoned a fleet of its site coordinators, and groups of them would work shifts through the rest of the week sorting and bagging toys to go out to households throughout the Kansas City area.

“This is what we do,” said Wade, LINC Program Specialist. “I said, ‘Let’s make it happen.’ It’s a lot of work blessing families, and we’re going full-steam ahead.”

While LINC’s team was helping the Marines get toys staged to go area-wide, some of those big red bags went to LINC site coordinators who are working with their partner schools to deliver gifts to families in LINC’s neighborhoods.

Some began going door-to-door in teams, calling ahead and meeting families on their front stoops.

Some held drive-through giveaways.

Some spread out in events indoors with masks, like LINC’s Caring Communities at Conn-West in Grandview. There families enjoyed a combination of Toys for Tots and food baskets in partnership with the Conn-West PTA, Grandview Church of the Nazarene and Palestine Baptist Church.

“We were able to serve over 40 families,” LINC Site Coordinator Shaniece Garlington said. She echoed other LINC staff and partners when she added, the work is “a blessing.”

LINC’s Caring Communities site at Longfellow Elementary School was one of several programs where site coordinators went door-to-door with gift bags.

“I could see the relief in each parent and kid’s face upon receiving the bags,” Longfellow Site Coordinator Torran Sayles said. “This year has been so tough and many providers weren’t able to afford gifts this year. I’m so happy to have been able to help these families.”

By Joe Robertson/LINC Writer

Photos: Upper right, a child picks toys at Conn-West Elementary School. Right, LINC’s team prepares family baskets at Conn-West. Right, a parent receives Toys for Tots gifts from LINC’s Longfellow Caring Communities. Right, Hale Cook Site Coordinator Qiana McGee (middle) and a school family stand with Toys for Tots bags to distribute. Below, Troost Site Coordinator Augustus Zuo delivers directly to families.