In Dubois, Bunting has supported their local chapter of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys For Tots charity. The charity’s mission is to collect new unwrapped toys and distribute those toys to less fortunate children at Christmas.
Former Marine Daniel Kalgren has worked for Bunting as a process engineer for nearly six years. He served as a Marine and in the armed forces for over nine years, before an injury led to a medical discharge. Daniel joined as Toys For Tots as a volunteer over 10 years ago, driven by the thought of children not having presents to open on Christmas morning.
The primary goal of the Marine Corps Reserve’s Toys for Tots is, through the gift of a new toy, to help bring the joy of Christmas and send a message of hope to America’s less fortunate children. The Program to provide toys to children up to the age of sixteen was first established in 1947, with the creation of the Marine Toys For Tots Foundation in 1991, at the behest of the Marine Corps.
In 2023, Toys For Tots delivered over 23,000 toys to over 2,700 children across the Clearfield County in Pennsylvania. This feat requires considerable organization and planning, along with an army of volunteers. The Clearfield chapter has over 75 volunteers and, leading up to Christmas, the volunteers are individually selecting toys for each child. The toys are then picked up or the volunteers then drive and drop off toys at the children’s houses around the county. This means that many volunteers are working 8 to 10 hours a day at times.
Before Christmas 2023, Daniel met with Bunting’s President and CEO, Robert Bunting, and Seth Beytien, Bunting’s Director of Global Operations. The proportion of people living below the poverty line in Clearfield County is higher than the national average, driving a greater need for toys at Christmas. Bunting wanted to support this great Toys For Tots initiative and signed up as a corporate sponsor.
“Difficult times for families often mean that children miss out,” explained Robert Bunting. “With this incredible Toys For Tots Program, children in poverty are not forgotten. As a Dubois business, we always want to help and support our local community. By becoming a corporate sponsor we can help the charity reach more children, ensuring they do not go without at Christmas.”