Birch Lane Collecting Hundreds Of Toys In Annual Toy Drive

MASSAPEQUA, NY — It’s shaping up to be another successful year for the annual holiday toy drive at Birch Lane Elementary School. Two weeks into the collection, nearly 300 toys have already been donated.

The toy drive is organized by the student government, led by advisers Kelsey Downey and Casey Russell, and runs through Dec. 20. Donations go to the John Theissen Children’s Foundation to support sick and underprivileged children.

Every morning, students can leave toys in bags in each classroom. Then, the Birch Lane elves – fifth grade student government members – go around the school, collect all of the toys and place them in large bins. Representatives from JTCF come and pick up the donations several times each week.

In addition to toys for children of all ages, students can also donate gift cards to any store that sells toys.

Fifth grader Ellie Casper said it makes her feel great to help others and that the large number of donations “means that people are caring about kids in need.”

“I’m glad that we got a lot of toys,” added Blaise Regis, “so we can give them to kids that deserve them and really need them. We’re doing this for a really good cause.”