Lindy Wins a $10K Toy Drop from Darius Rucker

As voting ended on Monday afternoon on Eventful.com for a chance to win a $10,000 toy drop from Darius Rucker - the former lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish - Lindenhurst was in the lead by several thousand votes.

Voting ended at 3 p.m. EST and Lindenhurst had 5,105 votes, several thousand ahead of the communities in the second- and third-place spots - Toms River, New Jersey, and Lincoln, Nebraska.

On Tuesday morning this congratulatory note was posted to Lindy on the site: "Congratulations to Lindenhurst, NY! Event details will be announced later this week."

The current Nashville recording artist Darius Rucker - whose new single and album are both called True Believer - partnered with Eventful "to give fans across the country the opportunity to 'demand' their city [and win] $10,000 worth of toys just in time for the holiday season. All toys will benefit the local Toys for Tots program, and be distributed to children in the winning city," according to a press release on the United States Marine Corps' Toys for Tots website.

And there are a couple of Toys for Tots locations in Lindenhurst, including the Lindenhurst Memorial Library - which held a Toys for Tots drive that ended on Monday - and the Lindenhurst Youth Center - whose Toys for Tots drive continues.

Voting to bring Rucker and the toys to Lindy extended until December 10 at 3 p.m. EST, though the press release intially said the deadline was December 6.

According to the release, "Participants could also spread the word virally across Facebook and Twitter, and invite their friends to help their city win. The city with the most 'demands' will see Rucker providing local area children with $10,000 of donated toys from the Toys for Tots program."

And that's all that Lindenhurst needed - especially after being ravaged by Hurricane Sandy.

A Facebook group called VoteLindy.com was started with this plea, "Bring Darius Rucker to Lindenhurst with his sleigh full of $10,000 worth of toys for the devastated Lindenhurst kids. It only takes 30 seconds, and your e-mail address. Please vote for our community. Go to www.VOTELINDY.com. You must click on the e-mail they send, or the vote doesn't count. If you don't receive an e-mail, then try it again until you receive the e-mail."

And thanks to this group's efforts, largely led by Ian Cale, Lindenhurst responded, logged on and "demanded" this toy drop.

Cale posted this on Tuesday - after voting ended and the congratulatory note was posted on Eventful.com - to Lindenhurst Patch's Facebook page, where he also shared links, updates and images of the fliers to rally Lindy: "I would just like to say thank you, thank you, thank you to the people of Lindy. You guys made this happen. I started pushing it like crazy; you guys finished it.

"There are a tremendous amount of people to thank for getting the word out. I don't have time to name names. You guys know who you are, and there are a lot. Thank you to the VoteLindy Girls (my name for all of you), Lindenhurst School District for running with it, the Library, the Lindy Fire Department, the Village, the Mayor, Minuteman Press for the fliers, Barbara at Panorama Signs, Lindenhurst Patch, Adopt a House, Camp Bulldog, Lindy Alum, Lindenhurst after Hurricane Sandy, all of the volunteers and people of Lindenhurst.

"I'm sure I'm forgetting people; it's not intentional. This is for the people that were affected by Sandy! Lindy Pride!"

The Eventful.com website said details will be announced later this week.

Latest Coverage:

• Hurricane Sandy Long Island 
• The Latest Sandy Updates
• Bring Darius and His Toys to Lindenhurst

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