None of us can see how historians will judge this strange year. As a result of the Pandemic, families are facing tremendous hardships.  This has resulted in a much larger number of requests to Toys for Tots for assistance this Christmas.  With that in mind, we decided it was important for us to help in our community.  We have been collecting for Toys for Tots to assist the Marine Corps every November for over 20 years so despite the Pandemic we set a goal to outdo ourselves by an order of magnitude.  

What transpired on Saturday morning November 21st was the culmination of months of planning with clients, the staff at Armature Works in downtown Tampa and Toys for Tots. . This event space is comprised of nearly two dozen indoor food vendors surrounded by acres of parking on the mouth of the Hillsborough River.  Hillsborough County’s Sheriff Chronister,  arrived by boat, and his team brought a pursuit helicopter, the bomb disposal unit, K-9’s and much more. By 6:00 AM the Marines had positioned toy boxes in a perimeter which by the show’s end, were overflowing with thousands of toys.
Careful planning staged the arrival of trailers, cars, and displays in successive intervals of 15 minutes. Once the paved lots were full, overflow spilled onto city streets and along the riverfront. When the sun awoke, our guests and our staff were in awe. With at least 400 cars positioned in designated spots and some 600 additional show cars ...