Central Oregon’s Toys for Tots drive looking for new storage location

Update: adding comments and video

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Central Oregon's Toys for Tots program is facing a major challenge this year: finding enough space to store the donated toys.

More than 7,500 area families were served last Christmas by the Toys for Tots program, thanks to help from Blue Dog RV, which let the program use its facility on Franklin Avenue in Bend for extra storage.

Toys for Tots will need to move out some time this month while the Blue Dog RV Park location is demolished.

"It’s getting to the point where we have to make some moves pretty darn quick," Mark Wirges, one of the organizers, told NewsChannel 21 Wednesday.

The area's rental rates for a similarly sized location are too expensive for the program to cover, said Bill Gabriel, another organizer.

"We can't even find a building to rent," Gabriel said. "I've got two or three Realtors right now, looking for something that would be reasonable for us to rent -- and nothing has come through." 

The program would like to have a storage area of at least 1,000 square feet donated, but Gabriel said he and his partners would find a way to pay.

"We will take it out of pocket, if we have to,” Gabriel said.

The Toys for Tots program, operated by the Marine Corps League of Central Oregon, is staffed by members of the Band of Brothers of Central Oregon.

You can reach out to Toys for Tots here.