Local Marine looking for one good trailer
Charlie Sewell has been a U.S. Marine since 1957, so when it comes to taking on a project, he doesn’t easily surrender.
Sewell, 86, runs the Nassau Toys for Tots program, sponsored by the U.S. Marines Corps Reserve.
While the Marine Corps is famous for its quest to find “a few good men,” Sewell would settle for one good trailer.
“I’m trying to collect donations for a one-axle trailer, a small trailer with a rear entrance,” Sewell said.
The trailer is needed to safely store the thousands of toys the program collects each holiday season.
“We have 45 people that pick up and deliver the toys; most of them have pickup trucks,” he said. “If it rains or snows between Thanksgiving and Christmas, some of the [toys] get wet and we have to throw them away.”
He said they need about $3,000 to get a trailer that will hold all the toys.
The local program handed out almost 30,000 toys to 8,500 children this past Christmas alone, according to Sewell.
Sewell has been running the Nassau Toys for Tots chapter since it began in 1988. He said volunteers have been dedicated since day one.
“The first mall in Rehoboth had a wishing well. We started rolling up our pant legs, taking off our shoes and socks and going in there and getting money out. The first time we went in, we got 40 bucks in change,” Sewell said.
Sewell gets encouragement from his next-door neighbor and good friend George McCarthy, 101, who served in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II.
Sewell said the Toys for Tots trailer will probably be parked at American Legion Post 28 in Oak Orchard or Post 17 in Lewes.
Sewell is known for being the driving force behind Post 28, acquiring the tank that has been a landmark on Route 24 for almost 30 years.
He said the trailer campaign will likely be his last “hoorah,” before turning Toys for Tots over to a younger leader.
Anyone interested in donation should call Sewell at 302-945-3941.
Bill Shull has been covering Lewes for the Cape Gazette since 2023. He comes to the world of print journalism after 40 years in TV news. Bill has worked in his hometown of Philadelphia, as well as Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He came to Lewes in 2014 to help launch WRDE-TV. Bill served as WRDE’s news director for more than eight years, working in Lewes and Milton. He is a 1986 graduate of Penn State University. Bill is an avid aviation and wildlife photographer, and a big Penn State football, Eagles, Phillies and PGA Tour golf fan. Bill, his wife Jill and their rescue cat, Lucky, live in Rehoboth Beach.
