The Passport Auto Group is, again, a Toys for Tots drop off location

Toys for Tots began in 1947 when Major Bill Hendricks, USMCR and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children. The idea came from Bill's wife, Diane.

In the fall of 1947, Diane handcrafted a Raggedy Ann doll and asked Bill to deliver the doll to an organization, which would give it to a needy child at Christmas. When Bill determined that no agency existed, Diane told Bill that he should start one. He did.

The 1947 campaign was so successful that the Marine Corps adopted Toys for Tots in 1948 and expanded it into a nationwide campaign. That year, Marine Corps Reserve units across the nation conducted Toys for Tots campaigns in each community in which a Marine Reserve Center was located. Marines have conducted successful nationwide campaigns at Christmas each year since 1948.

Over the 56 years of the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program, Marines have distributed more than 313 million toys to 151 million children. This charitable endeavor has made the U.S. Marines the unchallenged leaders in looking after needy children at Christmas. Over its 13 year life, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation has supplemented the collections of local campaigns with more than 47.3 million toys valued at $243 million, plus has provided promotion and support materials valued at $2.5 million.

Please join The Passport Auto Group in supporting this worthy charity.

Children's National Medical Center, locally referred to as Children's Hospital, is the only exclusive provider of pediatric care in the Washington, Metropolitan area.

Many children in the hospital require fresh blood or special rare types of red blood cells. Red blood cells, platelets, and plasma are in constant demand for victims of accidents, cancer treatments, blood diseases, and many types of surgery.

The Passport-sponsored blood drives are in support of Madison Grace Major. Click here to see her story

Please take a few minutes from your busy schedule and donate lifesaving blood for the patients at Children's National.

• Thursday Dec. 16, 2010 - Location: Passport Nissan & Infiniti - 150 S Pickett Street, Alexandria 10am-Noon
  

• Thursday Dec. 23, 2010 - Location: Passport BMW - 4630 Auth Place, Marlow Heights 10am-3pm  
  

To schedule an appointment, contact: Andrea Wolschleger at awolschl@cnmc.org or call (202) 476-3306

• CLICK HERE FOR DONOR ELIGIBILITY INFORMATION
• CLICK HERE FOR A LIST OF IRON-RICH FOODS

Community Involvement, Sponsorship & Social Responsibility

Passport's success has been a result of one-to-one relationships with our customers and our employees. With this in mind we highly encourage employees to belong to clubs, organizations or networking groups. In addition, we donate both time and money to worthy community requests to thank the community for their support and to make our community a better place to work and live.

Passport donates to many local charitable organizations that support housing and job placement for the homeless, shelter families of unfortunate circumstances, after school programs for disadvantaged young, college scholarship programs for outstanding yet unprivileged local high school students, pastoral care at local hospitals, emergency food, supplies, housing for disaster relief like Katrina, plus many other similar programs.

Passport has been the Platinum Sponsor for the Toast to Alexandria for over a decade. Since 1970, the Toast to Alexandria has created an opportunity for the Alexandria community to come together to enjoy some of the area's finest food and beverages in a garden-party atmosphere while supporting the Campagna Center and it's programs. The Campagna Center provides support to underprivileged Alexandria children and families with the goal of helping children become productive adults.

Other Community Involvement and Sponsorships include:
St Mary's School                                  Family Research Council
Fellowship of Christian Athlete             Alexandria Hospital Twig Auxiliary
Kidz in the Hood                                 Power Moves, National Heritage Foundation
The ALS Association                            Scholarship Fund of America
Focus on Family                                  Food for the Poor/Homeless in Jamaica
INOVA Hospital Fund                           Katrina Relief - World Vision & Samaritan Purse
Bishop Ireton High School                    Light the Night, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Angel Tree                                         Feed the Children
March of Dimes                                   Woodlawn Plantation Historic Restoration Fund
Booz Allen MS Walk                             Breast Health Inc.'s Annual 5K Walk/“Fun” Run
American Red Cross                            Artomatic
Celebrate Fairfax                                 Children's Hospital Blood Donor Services

Everett Hellmuth is involved as a Commissioner of Youth Lacrosse in the Alexandria, Virginia area with over 450 children ages 6-14. He also serves on the board of Capital Lacrosse which is a girl's high school travel club/showcase program, and is a member of the Board of Trustees of Hampton-Sydney College.

Passport BMW was a proud sponsor of the Breast Health Inc’s 1st Annual 5K Walk/“Fun” Run event on Saturday October, 17th at Watkins Regional Park in Upper Marlboro, MD. Despite the rain and cold weather they had over 100 participants for the event. Congresswoman Donna Edwards provided the greetings and welcomed the participants. First Lady Leslie Johnson provided remarks on behalf of County Executive Jack Johnson. Senator Ulysses Currie’s wife, Shirley Gravely-Currie, a 31 year breast cancer survivor, was the honorary keynote speaker. The Prince Georges County Police Department came out and participated in record numbers. It was a huge success and the first of its kind in Prince George’s County. For the first event, there was a very impressive list of sponsors of which, Passport BMW was proud to be a part of. You can view sponsors and pictures from the event in the photo gallery at www.breasthealthinc.org.