MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- Needy children in the San Diego area will have a new toy for Christmas as a result of donations given during the annual Toys for Tots Golf Tournament at the Miramar Memorial Golf Course Dec. 10.

Even with a little drizzle and cool temperatures, 142 golfers came out to play in the annual event hosted by the Flying Leatherneck Historical Foundation. Each player who registered for the tournament donated a new unwrapped toy to the program, including special guest player, R. Lee Ermey, star of the movie "Full Metal Jacket" and host of the History Channel's "Mail Call."

Ermey, who attended recruit training and was a drill instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, has volunteered his services for the Toys for Tots program in San Diego for over 20 years.  

"I've always considered San Diego as my home," Ermey said. "The people in the San Diego area are warm loving people. It's a breath of fresh air for me to come down here every year."

Ermey arrived Dec. 9 to spend the next ten days visiting servicemembers at Naval Medical Center San Diego, Camp Pendleton and MCRD San Diego, while helping promote the Toys for Tots program in the community, according to Chief Warrant Officer Wendy Willis, Public Affairs Events Coordinator, San Diego Toys for Tots Program. She said the association Ermey has with the Marine Corps ties in well for the program because the same audience that watches his show appreciates what he does.

"He is donating his time, which is valuable," said Willis, a San Diego native. "I think it's very generous of him."

Ermey does not consider himself a great golfer, but said he can still have fun knowing he participated in an event that will help thousands of needy children during the holiday season.

"We are not here to win a golf game. We are out here to play a game of golf and have a good time and maybe drum up some toys for Toys for Tots," he said. "We accomplished that today, so we win."

The Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program collects new, unwrapped toys October through December each year and distributes them as gifts to thousands of needy children in communities across the country. Willis said the program collects more than 100,000 toys every year in the San Diego area alone.

"As the toys come in, they get sorted and packaged then shipped right back out," she said. "We give out, on average, two toys per child. It's one of the things as a community you can use to build hope in children which makes them feel better about life."

Toys for Tots activities include collection and distribution of toys in the communities in which a Marine Corps Reserve unit is located or in the communities without a reserve unit that have a Marine Corps League Detachment or groups of men and women, generally veteran Marines, authorized by Marine Toys for Tots Foundation to conduct a local Toys for Tots campaign.

Local campaign coordinators conduct an array of activities throughout the year, which include golf tournaments, footraces, bicycle races and other voluntary events designed to increase interest in the program, which generates toy and monetary donations.