Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is supporting the Toys for Tots campaign at the Carson Blimp Base in Gardena, Calif., by offering a chance to win a flight for five aboard the Spirit of America.
No donation is required for entering the drawing, but guests are urged to bring a new, unwrapped toy as a gift to help make Christmas possible for a needy child, according to Elizabeth Flynn, airship PR manager.
Toys for Tots is a program of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve. The Carson Blimp Base is a toy drop-off point for the campaign.
Toys will be collected at an open house on Saturday, Dec. 14 and Sunday, Dec. 15, from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. at the blimp base, which is located at 19200 S. Main Street in Gardena.
The drawing is open to U.S. residents 18 years or older. Goodyear will select the winning entry in a random drawing on Jan. 9, 2014. The winner will receive a flight for five aboard the Spirit of America blimp.
Flynn says this is the third annual open house and Toys for Tots event at the Carson Blimp Base. The tradition started a year earlier, at the company’s Wingfoot Lake blimp hangar in Ohio.
Flynn says all three Goodyear airship bases have collected tens of thousands of toys for local children in need to date. In 2012, the Carson base collected over 16,000 toys donated by generous Californians.
“Throughout its 115-year history, Goodyear has always been a strong supporter of America's Armed Forces and veterans," she says.
"Our history of service includes having built over 250 blimps for the U.S. Navy during WWII to our annual Support Our Troops campaign during NASCAR, to again having been named one of the nation's top Military/Veteran Employers,” says Flynn.
The Carson location is the only base which will host a Toys for Tots Campaign in 2013. “We fully anticipate that the other two bases will rejoin the tradition next year.”
For more information about the Toys for Tots program, visit http://www.toysfortots.org.
