Employees from 17 tenants in CenterPoint Commerce & Trade Park joined forces for the holidays and together donated hundreds of new, unwrapped toys to the U.S Marine Corps Reserves’ Toys for Tots Program.
Participating tenants included BabyAge.com, Boden, C3i, Cintas First Aid & Safety, Cooper Electric/Friedman Electric, Corning, The EmeryWaterhouse Company, The Home Depot, KCI, Lyon Conklin & Company, Men’s Wearhouse, Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services, Neiman Marcus, New Horizons Computer Learning Center, NORSTAR Networks, Pella Windows and Doors, and Safelite AutoGlass.
Sergeant Brandon T. Kropf of the Marine Wing Support Squadron 472 Detachment Alpha Toys for Tots campaign out of Wyoming, Pennsylvania said the program provides support to eight counties including Luzerne, Lackawanna, Tioga, Bradford, Sullivan, Potter, Susquehanna and Wyoming.
“Last year we helped more than 20,000 children in Northeastern Pennsylvania and distributed more than 35,000 toys, games, stocking stuffers and books,” he said. “We have a team of close to 300 volunteers that sorts the toys and helps get them to area families in need.”
The toys are being stored in CenterPoint Commerce & Trade Park East in warehouse space donated by Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services. Mericle has donated space to the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves for the Toys for Tots Program every year since 1998, including the past three holiday seasons in CenterPoint.
“One of the challenges for a Toys for Tots campaign is finding a facility that can handle the logistical aspects of collection and distribution,” said Kropf. Mericle has graciously provided us with a facility that meets our needs and allows maximum efficiency of operations”.
Deana Pickett, Mericle’s business development director, praised CenterPoint’s tenants for their generosity. “We had a very high participation rate,” she said. “Our CenterPoint tenants came together as a community and really enjoyed working as a team for such a worthy cause. Mericle looks forward to coordinating similar group efforts with our tenants in 2014.”
Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services, founded by Robert Mericle, has provided commercial real estate solutions to companies in Northeastern and North Central Pennsylvania for more than 30 years. Mericle is a developer of investment grade industrial, office, flex, and medical space and ReadyToGo!™ Sites. More than 13,400 people work in the buildings Mericle has developed.