#ToysForTotsLiteracy & The UPS Store - Easy Way to Help a Great Cause & Storytime

What do you think of when you think "The UPS Store"?

This is the first thing that comes to my mind:

I think shipping boxes. I think brown truck.

And when I was recently in one, I remembered them partnering with/buying Mailboxes Etc. several years ago, so seeing the mailbox service didn't come as much of a shock. But that sign for "Administrative" services...

That was new to me.

And though I was aware that they print, I was surprised to see such a wide range of options.

And the color copy option came in handy for the flyer my daughter had drawn up for an event that I was putting together with another blogger. My friend Jen from Big Binder and I were asked to put together a story time and to share it, and some other details I'll get to in a moment.

Toys for Tots is one of my favorite programs. A fire department in our area puts a float in the Christmas parade every year and takes toy donations during the parade. They also accept monetary donations. It's been several years, but someone once told me that the Toys for Tots program has done such a wonderful job of collecting toys over the years that the problem they face more often is the low cash flow in the program that facilitates the distribution of the toys.

The Toys for Tots Literacy Program looks to expand the aid of children. You will find boxes in The UPS Store that accept donations to the program. The Toys for Tots Literacy Program provides books to the less fortunate children in the US.

The boxes look like this:

Or like this one that my son put his donation in: (I ♥ the Marine Corps bear!)

How can you help the Toys for Tots Literacy Program?

Step 1: Walk into any The UPS Store location.
Step 2: :ook for the box.
Step 3: Deposit anything from a bit of spare change to a larger planned contribution.
Result: Make a difference.

So, about that event..... we had a local police officer come read a story to the children that attended.

And we gave each child a book to take home:

And, what's a gathering of children without snacks?!?

It didn't take long for those nice, factory sealed packages to end up looking like this:

And I believe each child enjoyed a couple different things!

I do think this was the most unexpected part of the event, and so very cute. After the police officer left, the older kids sat down and read a story to my friends 1 year old daughter!