Bronxville's Toys for Tots Campaign in Full Swing

By Jane Ircha

This time of year the Village of Bronxville looks picture perfect, stores are festively decorated, shoppers are busy, and many annual Christmas traditions continue, including Toys for Tots.

As you pass the following businesses: Value Drugs, the Bronxville Fitness Club, the Eliza Corwin Frost School, Aegis Capital, Coldwell Banker Carlson Real Estate, New York-Presbyterian/Lawrence Hospital, People’s United Bank, please notice Toys for Tots drop-off boxes on display.

Please consider donating a new, unwrapped toy for a child from birth to age 18. Presents for teenage boys and girls are most needed. Ircha sisters Sasha and Kirsten, a junior and freshman at Bronxville High School, with the help from younger sisters Caroline and Jane, are spearheading this village tradition. This Bronxville tradition of generosity is now in its fifth year, and the Ircha sisters are Toys for Tots official representatives of the 2015 campaign.

Toys for Tots is a top-rated charity with over 97 percent of donations going to their mission of providing toys, books and other gifts to less fortunate children.

“A simple thing like a new toy, that others take for granted, can mean so much to a child in need,” said Sasha. “A new toy gives a child hope that the world is kind, and this is so important, especially now,” added Kirsten. Last year, the outpouring of generosity in Bronxville and the surrounding communities was so great that these bins had to be emptied several times a week and brought to the distribution center to be sorted and gifted. Over 1000 new toys were collected during the drive last year. This year, this quartet of sisters hopes to surpass last year’s numbers. These hard economic times have hit some local families and children hard. Sixteen million children are living in poverty in the US. The primary mission of the Toys for Tots drive is to deliver, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them is becoming responsible, productive and patriotic children.

The drive in the village is continuing until December 24th, do please consider donating a toy that will be appreciated by a child in need.

The following is a list of local recipients of the Toys for Tots donations from Bronxville Village:

Andrus Children’s Home
Graham-Windham Children’s Home
Leake & Watts Children’s Home
Pleasantville Cottages Children’s Home
Family Services Society of Yonkers
Blythedale Children’s Hospital
Westchester County Social Services
Family Services Society of Westchester
Westchester Medical Center Children’s Ward
Westchester County Social Services / Homeless
Holy Spirit Church – Ossining
Greenburgh Health Center
IFCA Children’s Support Program
Community Action Program
White Plains Child Day Care Centers
Community Housing Innovations
Planned Community Living
Mount Vernon Neighborhood Health Center

There are many others not listed.

Photo: For the fifth straight year, Toys for Tots is being run by Bronxville school students. From left, Ircha sisters: Jane, Sasha, Kirsten and Caroline, Toys for Tots official representatives of the 2015 campaign. Photo credit: Contributed