VERGENNES — This year the Vergennes Lions Toys for Kids Drive was an enormous success, with over 190 children in the Vergennes area receiving toys or gift cards at Christmas, as well as stocking stuffers.
This would not have been possible if it had not been for the many generous people dropping toys and money in the red barrels at One Credit Union, Dollar General, Jackman Fuels, Kinney Drugs, Long Trail Physical Therapy, Shear Cuts, Ferrisburgh Bake Shop, and Porky’s BBQ. One woman from Weston, Mass., whose brother-in-law is a Lions Club member, made a sizeable donation. Another woman whose sister-in-law is a Lion also made a sizeable donation. In addition, WOW Toys in Vergennes donated over $500 worth of toys toward the effort. A Vergennes resident dropped off two new guitars, still in their boxes, and an anonymous Santa for the second year in a row donated two new bicycles with helmets.
Project chair, Lion Susan Hayes, said, “We have never had this many toys donated.” This project is conducted each year, in cooperation with the Marine Corps League, to make sure no children go without a few Christmas presents. Michael DiPalermo, owner of Long Trail on the Falls Physical Therapy, donated the use of his facility for three days, where parents could come in and pick out two toys and some stocking stuffers for each of their children. Special thanks also to Lynn Brigan, the Administrative Assistant at Long Trail, for devoting these three days to working with Lions Club members to make this possible.
Many of the parents said there would have been no toys for their children if it had not been for this effort.
The next Lions Club project will be the Merry Mulch Christmas tree pickup on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021. Lions Club members will gather, at 8 a.m. at the City Garage on Canal Street, and will then travel throughout the city picking up discarded Christmas trees. They will be taken to the stump dump for chipping by the city road crew, and the mulch will later be available for pickup by residents for mulching at their homes. People are asked to be sure all decorations have been removed, and no wreaths please.