U.S. Marine Sgt. David Martinez, left, and Lance Cpl. Ryan Gaspard walk along the hallway and shake hands Wednesday with students at Dodson Elementary School.  

Hundreds of smiling students lined the halls of Dodson Elementary School on Wednesday morning as two U.S. Marines and three members of the Marine Corps League collected Toys for Tots donations.

“It was very overwhelming. It was great to see little kids actually help participate in giving toys to other kids for Christmas. It was a really good thing,” said Sgt. David Martinez, who collected the toys.

Dodson students have been bringing donations to the school for more than two weeks, said Paula Saravia, fifth-grade teacher and co-sponsor of the school’s honor club. She said the students collected more than 300 toys.

“We had 15 or 16 bags with at least 20 to 30 toys in each,” said fifth-grade honor club student Nanci Pellerin, 10.

The honor club students, who spearheaded the collection, carried the bags down the halls behind the visitors.

“It feels good because you’re making a difference in somebody else’s life because you’re giving them presents they don’t usually get,” said student Alyssa Louviere, 10, who carried one of the bags.

Student Ashlyn Broussard, 11, said her favorite parts of the donation were asking the Marines questions and giving them the toys. Broussard said she was eager to ask them about the medals on their uniforms.

Saravia said the honor club at Dodson Elementary started the annual collection almost 10 years ago as a community service project. She said through the years, the school teamed up with the Alice Allain of the Marine Corps League for the Toys for Tots program.

Toys for Tots is the Marine Corps’ premier community service program. Over the past 10 years, Marines have distributed an average of more than 15 million toys to 6.3 million children nationwide, according to the Marine Corps Reserve.

Saravia said if the students brought a toy they are allowed to attend a Christmas movie viewing at the end of the month as a small incentive.

“They have a little bit of an incentive, but they also learn that they are helping unfortunate children, too,” she said.

She said donations were relatively slow until the day of the event, but some students bought gifts from the Christmas store at the school, also sponsored by the honor club, to donate. She said the school has more than 320 students and only 27 of them did not participate in the donation.  

“We’re happy to do it. It’s a good feeling to see kids helping kids or people helping other people. That’s why we do it,” saidSaravia.