Charleston Living Magazine Nov-Dec 2021

BUZZ | CHARITY
Making Spirits Bright
Toys for Tots spreads Christmas cheer to children
in the community
L
ast year, the local Charleston Marine Corps Reserve
Toys for Tots program distributed 108,442 toys to children
in the greater Charleston area. This year, the Charleston chapter
for Toys for Tots has a new coordinator, Sgt. Andrew Duval, who
is planning and prepping for another holiday season and making
spirits bright for Charleston’s youngest residents.
48 | CharlestonLivingMag.com
By MONICA KREBER
The national Toys for Tots program began
in 1947. This popular charity program collects
new, unwrapped toys during October,
November and December and then distributes
the toys as Christmas gifts to less
fortunate children in the community. Toys
for Tots collects monetary donations as well.
While he is new to the coordinator role
this year, Duval has a heart for volunteering
and giving back to the community.
“I saw this as an opportunity to be able to
do that and also to help others,” he said. “Every
child deserves a Christmas. I’m excited for it. I
believe it’s going to be a great year.”
Duval is originally from Knoxville, Tennessee
and moved to the Charleston area in
March. He joined the Marine Corps to fulfill
a wish to follow in his father’s footsteps, and
now speaks highly of the family and camaraderie
he has built with his fellow Marines.
“You’ve got your brothers and your sisters
that you work with, day in and day out,”
he said.
Duval was part of a small deployment
to Norway in 2019, supporting the battalion
with weapons maintenance. He re-enlisted
with the Marine Corps while he was in
Germany on his way back from deployment,
and he subsequently was given the option of
heading to the East Coast, the West Coast
or overseas. He initially wanted to go to the
West Coast but also wanted to stay closer to
family, so he narrowed his choices down to
South Carolina or Virginia. Duval said he
had always heard good things about Charleston
so when the opportunity came, he took it.
Duval is stationed at the Naval Weapons
base as a 2111 small arms technician. He
lives in Summerville with his wife of almost
two years, Shelby.
When he came to Charleston, he learned
the Toys for Tots chapter was searching for
someone to fill the coordinator role for the organization
and decided to take on the job.
In 2019, the Charleston chapter distributed
around 72,000 toys to 14,000 children.
Last year’s collection of more than 108,000
toys went to 35,000 children.
“This year we’re hoping to get more toys,
so that way we kind of have some room to
work with in case number of children in need
goes up,” Duval said.
Duval plans to be out and about helping
to distribute gifts on Christmas. He works
with a team of volunteers, and the chapter is
also supported by its sponsors and volunteers
through News 2 and Boeing, who help out