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Motivated by the hard times he experienced during the Great Depression, Jim Gordon has volunteered for more than 20 years to fill Christmas wishes for children in need through the Toys for Tots program.

At 90, Gordon is the oldest volunteer of Alamance County's 1218 Detachment, which holds the local rights to collect toys under the umbrella national Toys for Tots Foundation.

Gordon was born in 1918 in Watertown, N.Y. When he was 7 he moved with his family to Buffalo, N.Y. In 1943, at age 24, Gordon joined the Marine Corps.

His service took him through boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., while also carrying him through North Carolina's Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station and Camp Lejeune.

As a member of the 4th Marine Division, 25th Marines, 2nd Battalion, Company G, 2nd Platoon, Gordon made his way through Camp Pendleton in California before finding himself in the Pacific in World War II. He received a Purple Heart after being wounded.

After serving 3 1/2 years, Gordon was discharged and returned to Buffalo. For 44 years he worked as a self-employed businessman. He has two children from his first marriage, both of whom teach at universities.

When he retired, he moved with his second wife to Florida. He first joined a Marine Corps League and later the service organization Veterans of Foreign Wars.

He later saw an ad in the paper looking for Marine volunteers to help form the North Lakes Detachment in the Leesburg, Fla., area.

While a part of this detachment, he joined with other volunteers to obtain the charter to form the Toys for Tots program in that area. The charter gave them the exclusive rights within that area to collect money and new toys for children in need for the Christmas season under the Toys for Tots Foundation.

Gordon worked with that detachment and Toys for Tots in Florida for 15 years before moving to North Carolina to be near his daughter after the death of his second wife.

At first, Gordon worked with the Guilford County Detachment, which handles Toys for Tots there. He decided he did not want to drive so far. About that same time he learned that the Alamance County Toys for Tots program needed help.

He discussed the situation with a couple of other Marines, and they obtained the exclusive rights to reorganize the Toys for Tots program in Alamance County. It took them close to a year to do so.

He recalls there were a group of 50 Marines working together, most of whom were younger men with amazing energy and ability. They took what Gordon had organized on paper and computerized everything.

Three years ago, after the reorganization, 200 families were served by the Toys for Tots program. This year the Alamance County Detachment will donate more than 3,700 toys to 525 families.

The organization holds an annual golf tournament to help raise money for the program. This year the group raised more than $11,000.

Every dollar raised is used to buy toys.

This year they were able to use the money to purchase 89 bicycles, which will be distributed as a part of the toy giveaway to those who applied through a participating church in the area.

The application deadline has passed, and the volunteers now work filling the remaining requests in these last few days before Christmas.

Though the boxes that had been placed in local businesses have been picked up and final toys are being delivered, donations are welcome anytime.

If there are any toys left over, they are held in storage. Police and fire departments often call upon the detachment's Toys for Tots program throughout the year to see if they have appropriate toys that could be given to a child they have found to be in need after a call has been made to that home.

The Toys For Tots program welcomes anyone who is interested in volunteering to help make Christmas brighter for the hundreds of Alamance County children who will benefit from the community's generosity.

Linda Vestal is a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend living in Gibsonville. Contact her with comments or story ideas at lindavestal@triad.rr.com.