Two truckloads of joy arrived last month at a warehouse in Robinson, where they were greeted by volunteers with open arms and big hearts.

"It was really exciting. We had toys up to the ceiling," said Amanda Trocki of West Deer, a coordinator for Pittsburgh Cares, a nonprofit agency that promotes volunteerism in the region.

By Christmas, more than 100,000 toys and books will pass through the warehouse on their way to underprivileged boys and girls throughout the area.

Scores of volunteers and thousands of generous Pittsburgh Post-Gazette readers will help make it happen.

The Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots program was in high gear this week as Marines and volunteers sorted toys by age and gender and prepared them for pickup by more than 130 agencies that serve needy families.

There were skateboards and basketballs, toy trucks and dolls, puzzles and board games, including some old favorites like Candy Land and Sorry.

"There's a definite need," said Pastor James Johnson of Greater Calvary Victory Center in Lawrenceville, who brought a group of volunteers from the church to sort toys. "It has increased every year."

The church and two others will hold a celebration on the Sunday before Christmas and expect to distribute toys to more than 100 children, he said.

Also at the warehouse this week was a group from the Downtown office of Principal Financial Group in the U.S. Steel Tower. Service manager Tracy Gracan of Pine contacted Pittsburgh Cares to offer assistance to the toy drive.

"I've been looking for this kind of opportunity and just couldn't find the right one," said her co-worker, Noah Farberow of Murrysville. "I jumped right on it."

Some 120 Marine reservists, assigned to Military Police Company Bravo of North Versailles, also will devote time to the effort, said Sgt. Nekia Suggs, coordinator of the campaign, which is funded in large part by the Post-Gazette's Goodfellows Fund.

Toys for Tots is a nationwide program that began in Los Angeles in 1947 when Diane Hendricks, wife of a Marine reservist, crafted a doll and asked her husband to deliver it to an agency that could pass it on to a needy child.

When Maj. Bill Hendricks determined that no such agency existed, she told him he should start one. Since then, the program has distributed more than 400 million toys.

The Post-Gazette Goodfellows Fund also was founded in 1947 with a goal that no child suffer through a Christmas without toys under the tree.

You can make a tax-deductible donation to the Goodfellows Fund by using the coupon or contribute online at post-gazette.com/goodfellows. Every donation will be acknowledged in the newspaper.

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