Linden Ponds Donates Hundreds of Toys for South Shore Homeless

Linden Ponds residents and staff donate so many toys each holiday season that instead of sending them to the Hingham Police Department, which in turn brings Toys for Tots to the U.S. Marine processing center in South Boston, the retirement community hits another, local population in need.

On Wednesday morning, volunteers at Linden and from the North Street Community Chapel bagged several hundred toys, to be combined with more donations piling up at the church and given to Friends of the Homeless of the South Shore.

The non-profit provides the toys to families with children who are staying at shelters and motels around the area. Last year, the chapel's donations provided toys to more than 300 families, Program Director Ed DiSante said.

Meanwhile, toys have been piling up in the lobby of the Hingham police station, where DPW workers, members of Teamsters Local 25, have been picking them up for transport to South Boston nearly every day, said Joan Sullivan, the town's Toys for Tots coordinator.

Hingham is Local 25's largest pickup point, Sullivan said. In fact, residents are so generous that Sullivan has a truck and three Teamster retirees assigned to her during the holiday season, on-call to scoop up toys.

Find out more about Friends of the Homeless at http://www.friendsofhomeless.org and the North Street Community Chapel at http://www.northst.org.