Posted on December 19, 2017
HARTFORD – State Representative Anne Dauphinais (R-44) partnered with other local Tommy Toy Fund volunteers to put together holiday toy packages to donate to children in need.
Families who are interested in the program sign up in early November through a Registration Application printed in the Norwich Bulletin. The names, ages, and gender of each child are entered into a centralized database to ensure all receive a fair amount of age appropriate toys.
All of the toys are brought to a location and separated by age and gender. Orders are fulfilled by 40 – 50 daily volunteers and 10 -12 weekend volunteers over a two day period. Family members then pick up the toys for the next two days.
“I’ve been a volunteer for several years now and the joy and happiness you see on the faces of families who are receiving these toys for their children is truly priceless,” Rep. Dauphinais said. “I could not imagine having children and them waking up on Christmas Day without the excitement of presents under the tree and I’m happy to be part of an event that continues to do such good work for the children and families of our community.”
In the last couple of years donations have expanded to also include children’s bicycles. Due to the number of entrants and amount of bikes available, the organizers of the event created a raffle for families picking up toys to enter for a chance to win one of the bikes of their choice. This year almost 70 bikes were donated to the program.
Local police departments host stuff a cruiser events in order to collect items for the drive and various other locations also contribute by hosting toy drives of their own. This year participating towns included Dayville, Putnam, Jewett City, Danielson., Preston, Brooklyn, and West Thompson.
For more information on the Tommy Toy Fund, visit their Facebook page here.
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