Toys for Tots gave this Marine his first Christmas gift. He worries kids this year won't be so lucky

Toys for Tots, the 80-year-old program run by the U.S. Marines, is seeing toy donations down by almost 20% this year. Staff Seargent Christian Martinez was once the recipient of one of those toys. Now, as coordinator of the Kansas City chapter of Toys for Tots, he's worried that that other little boys won't get the same joy he did.

Marine Staff Sergeant Christian Martinez knows firsthand the value of the Toys for Tots program, a nonprofit run by the U.S. Marine Corps that provides free Christmas gifts to children of families in need. As a young boy and part of an eight- kid household, he never had the experience of running down on Christmas morning to see what shiny new thing Santa left for him under the Christmas tree.

“Growing up for Christmas, there was never the expectation like, hey