VERGENNES — Collection barrels are out for the holiday toy drive, and playthings are being donated, according to Vergennes Area Lions Club “Toys for Vermont Kids” Committee Co-Chair Sue Hays. Donated toys will be distributed through local food shelves and will stay in the Vergennes and Bristol area communities.
The Lions are getting help this year from Northlands Job Corps, which will provide assistance from students to help with the collection, sorting, and distribution of the collected toys. Northlands, the federally funded-career training program based in Vergennes, will also provide a room on its campus to allow an easy collection and distribution point.
The Northlands collection barrel is located in the Welcome Center on the campus off Macdonough Drive in Vergennes. The Welcome Center is staffed 24 hours a day. Anyone wishing to make a donation is more than welcome to bring it to Northlands.
Lions Roger and Sue Hayes said they are very happy to have the easily accessible area, as the space the Lions used last year is no longer available.
“The students and staff at Northlands are willing to step up and help the local community in any way we can,” stated Northlands Business Community Liaison Logan Barbosa. “As an education and training program whose main enrollment requirement is low income, projects like these strike particularly close to home and makes everyone want to get involved in any way we can.”
“Of course it is critical to the success of the project to have the easily accessible space which Northlands has made available to us,” said Roger Hayes, who is co-chair of the Lions’ Toys for Vermont Kids Committee. “We certainly are thankful for Northlands agreeing to help and look forward to the assistance.”
“Toys for VT Kids” is a volunteer program sponsored by the Vermont Marine Corps League, which collects new, unwrapped toys leading up to the holidays. Over 20,000 Vermont kids live below the poverty level during the holiday season. The “Toys for VT Kids” program provides those kids with toys.