ND men's basketball squad, Marine Corps team up for Toys for Tots program
ND men's basketball squad, Marine Corps team up for Toys for Tots program Save Email Print
Posted: 10:38 PM Dec 2, 2008
Last Updated: 2:35 AM Dec 3, 2008
Reporter: Erin Logan

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Since 1947, they've given out 386 million toys to children who would otherwise have nothing under the Christmas tree from Santa.

We're talking about the Marine Corps Toys for Tots program.

On Tuesday night, the Notre Dame men's basketball team "teamed" up with the Marine Corps to encourage Michiana to make a child's wish come true this holiday season.

For every toy given, in return came a discounted basketball ticket. In just weeks, that will mean a gracious tot who would've been left without a present.

Gordon Luck, a longtime usher at Notre Dame's Joyce Center, says, "People are really thrilled that we'd go out of our way to give them gifts for Christmas, because there's a lot of them who otherwise wouldn't get any gifts at all."

At one point in his life, Irish point guard Tory Jackson and his family were touched by the help they got from Toys for Tots.

As Jackson told us last year, he still remembers his favorite toy delivered: Superman.

"Please help out in any way you can," he says. "Coming from a big family, all of us didn't have gifts and stuff like that. We weren't blessed, we weren't the richest family in the world, so this Toys for Tots program means so much to me right now."

People who gave gifts say they couldn't imagine having so little and praying for just one toy delivered to their homes.

Caroline Buhr says, "Everyone gets tons of toys, people we know. So many other people don't, and one toy, if a lot of people did that, it would equal up to a ton of toys."

That's what Tory Jackson's talking about, "Team Michiana" coming together to make it happen, a very Merry Christmas to all.

Dave Mark says, "I specifically wanted to bring something this year because I knew it was going to be tougher. Others aren't doing as well, so they might not be able to extend the presents."

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Posted by: Craig Location: Bremen on Dec 3, 2008 at 03:31 PM
It is great to see Tory Jackson giving back to the community and showing his appreciation for being helped himself at one time. He is a bright, intelligent man who has found his way out of poverty. I notice the big mouths that usually make comments about how all poor people are lazy and stupid can't make comments here! Good job Tory! Hopefully some poor children will be impacted enough to make good decisions to make it out of poverty themselves. You gotta love both the mens and womens basketball teams on and off the court.


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