TAMPA, Fla. -- It's the first holiday shopping season without Toys R Us.
- Toys for Tots feeling the loss of Toys R Us
- The organization has seen a dip in donations this year
- Toys R Us, which was a national sponor, closed all stores
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While many families are turning to other big box retailers and Amazon, organizations like Toys for Tots are feeling the loss.
Toys R Us was one of Toys for Tots national sponsors. The company donated more than 250,000 toys in 2017, in addition to placing donation bins in each of their stores.
When the toy giant closed, it left Toys for Tots searching to fill the gaps.
"We were a little low on toys, I think we got about 10,000 toys less than we normally do," said Phoebe Peters, warehouse manager of Toys for Tots Tampa Bay. She noted that donations were still coming in as of December 23, so the number of toys are climbing.
Toys for Tots Tampa Bay supplemented the loss of Toys R Us by doing part of its holiday shopping with Walmart. Peter said the generosity of many Tampa residents also helped to keep their numbers up.
It was a different story in Orlando, where donations were down 25 percent earlier this week.
But for families that rely on Toys for Tots to make Christmas morning bright, the hard work of the organization's team was greatly appreciated.
"I'm going to go home and then my kids are going to wake up, and they're going to be so happy and I just can't wait to film them," said Chelsey Hagemen, a mother of five from the Tampa area.
It's too soon to tell if Toys R Us' closure affected the number of presents given across the country.