One Handmade Doll Started Toys for Tots

One handmade doll. That is all it took to spark one of America's most beloved holiday traditions - and the woman behind it rarely gets the credit she deserves.

The Doll No One Would Take

In the fall of 1947, Diane Hendricks hand-stitched a Raggedy Ann doll and asked her husband Bill to find a charity that could give it to a child in need at Christmas. Bill Hendricks was a Marine Corps Reserve major stationed in Los Angeles - and also the Director of Public Relations at Warner Brothers Studios. He searched the city for an organization that would accept the doll. He found none. When he came home empty-handed, Diane had a simple answer: start one.

Marines Answer the Call

Maj. Hendricks brought the idea back to his Marine reserve unit. Within weeks, collection bins had been set up across Los Angeles, including at Warner Bros. movie theaters. Hendricks used every Hollywood connection he had to spread the word. By Christmas, he and his unit had collected and distributed 5,000 toys to children across the city.

Walt Disney Designed the Logo

The following year, as the Marine Corps Commandant directed every reserve site in the country to launch its own campaign, Hendricks reached out to another Hollywood friend: Walt Disney. Disney and his studio artists created the original 1948 Toys for Tots poster - a cheerful Santa Claus running alongside a three-car miniature toy train inscribed with the program's name. That train became the official logo, and a version of it still appears on every Toys for Tots collection box today.

From One Doll to 708 Million Toys

Diane Hendricks wanted to give away a single handmade doll. Her husband turned that impulse into a program that has now delivered more than 708 million toys to over 314 million children across the United States. In 2023 alone, Toys for Tots reached over 10 million children with nearly 25 million toys, books, and gifts.