Toys for Tots Austin still looking for donations

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — Christmas is coming up soon, and many organizations have reached out to the community for donations, including the Marine Corps Reserve's Toys for Tots.

The Austin chapter collects and distributes new and unwrapped toys to families in need. Organizers said they still need toys and donations, and that they will continue to collect over the next two weeks.

Organizers told KXAN that last year they received about 45,000 toys for 20,000 kids.

"It means a lot to me to be able to help these kids have a Christmas they deserve because every kid deserves a good Christmas," said Sgt. Alexander Morris, the Toys for Tots Austin coordinator. "This year we are a little down on our donations however we still do have two weeks left and we do have a lot of drop boxes out within Austin. We have over 200 drop sites within the eight counties that we cover."

Morris says they are in need of toys for 13 to 14-year-olds and newborn to two-year-olds.

Visit the Toys for Tots website to learn how to help or where to donate toys. Families in need have until Dec. 4 to fill out the online application .

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KXAN Austin.

Authorities have identified body parts found in a freezer earlier this year in Colorado as belonging to a teenager who went missing nearly two decades ago. The Mesa County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the remains are those of Amanda Leariel Overstreet, who had not been seen since April 2005. Her head and hands were discovered in a freezer at a home in Grand Junction, about 240 miles west of Denver, in January. Overstreet was the biological daughter of the home's previous owners. The remains were found when the new owners, who had recently purchased and remodeled the home, attempted to give away the freezer. Investigators have emphasized that the current owners are not connected to the case. Overstreet's disappearance had never been formally reported, and the case remains under investigation, according to the sheriff's office.