The H&K Insurance staff with stands with some of the gifts collected for Toys for Tots in 2015.
If you stop by the offices of H & K Insurance, you’ll see a brightly wrapped and bow covered collection box for Toys for Tots. The box was dropped off Nov. 1, and before it’s picked up again in December, H & K announced it hopes to fill it to overflowing. Another record-breaking toy drive for the insurance agency, all for a good cause.
Every year the Toys for Tots program makes Christmas possible for millions of children throughout New England and the greater United States. But this program isn’t a simple toy-giving line from box to child, but a series of businesses and services volunteering and working together to advertise, collect, transfer, sort, process, and then distribute these toys to the families who need them most.
In Watertown one of the first links in this chain is the H & K Insurance Agency, an independent insurance agency since 1961 with a long history of supporting the community. It and other local businesses participating in the drive are supported in turn by ServiceMaster by Gilmore, a disaster restoration service, that provides drop off and pickup of the iconic gift-wrapped collection boxes of Toys for Tots. Without the volunteering of local companies like these and sponsors like the Massachusetts State Police, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve would be unable to run the program that has been going for almost 70 years.
Each year, the Treasurer and General Manager of H & K Paul Perry and his wife, Daralyn Perry, contribute heavily to Toys for Tots out of their own pocket, but the Perry family and H & K Insurance look to the local community to help multiply this effect.
“We are expecting to break our record from last year and we can’t wait to see what this year holds,” said Perry. “We are thrilled to partner with the Watertown community in this great endeavor.”
The Toys for Tots drive at H & K Insurance has begun and will be accepting donations through Dec. 4. With the H & K staff, their customers and business partners, and the community, it hopes to make this another record-breaking year for toy donations in Watertown. To learn more about H & K Insurance, visit their website at www.hkinsurance.com.