Contributed photo Members1st Community Credit Union employees Kellie DeRuiter, Juliana Sanchez and Yolanda Smith pose at the Toys for Tots donation box located at the 12th Avenue branch in Marshalltown.

The holiday season is here which means charitable donation campaigns are underway.

One such is the Menards Annual Toy Drive. General manager Shaphan Smith said the Marshalltown store serves as a toy drive drop site and has partnered with the local Salvation Army.

“It is to show goodwill to the community and gives us the opportunity for our team members to give back to kids in our community,” Smith said.

There is a donations box set up by the exit door in Menards. Smith said people do not have to purchase the toys there, but can buy them elsewhere and bring them to the store. As long as the toys are brand new and unwrapped, they will be accepted.

The drive will run through Dec. 15.

The toy drive is not the first campaign Menards has participated in. Smith said they also do an annual back to school drive for children and a pet food drive by partnering with the Humane Society.

Another business that is running a toy drive is the Members1st Community Credit Union.

Spokesperson Becky Zemlicka said this is the first time the credit union in Marshalltown has participated in the annual nationwide Toys for Tots campaign.

Zemlicka said Members1st got permission to begin the campaign in early October and it will last through Nov. 30.

“We will deliver everything the first week in December,” she said.

The toys will be taken to the Toys for Tots location in Des Moines, which Zemlicka said covers all of Central Iowa.

Like the Menards campaign, the toys requested at Members1st are to be brand new and unwrapped.

“We are focused on giving back to the community,” Zemlicka said. “We had done this before but it was never a focused effort. We plan to potentially do this every year.”

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Contact Lana Bradstream

at 641-753-6611 or

lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.