Riverhead residents, public servants and businesses teamed up to make sure those less fortunate have a happy holiday. Here’s a sampling of some of the activities undertaken by volunteers to make the holiday season brighter for others.
Local businesses support Salvation Army toy drive
For the third year in a row, John Wesley village teamed up with the Riverhead Salvation Army for a toy drive for children in need. Each year, John Wesley collects donations for children who would otherwise go “unclaimed” by other donors.
Children in need submit Christmas lists to the Salvation Army, which are then tagged with the child’s age, gender and wishes. The tags are then passed on to generous volunteers from the community. The unclaimed tags wind up at John Wesley Village, where they are then fulfilled by the community’s toy drive.
“This year Salvation army had a lot more public support. There weren’t as many children left for us to collect for, which is a good thing,” John Wesley Village project manager Thomas Farruggia.
John Wesley credits other local businesses for pitching in and getting involved this year to bring Christmas to needy children.
“Joe Stepnoski has always been supportive in backing our charity endeavors,” Farruggia said of a sales executive at Neefus Stype Agency. “This year he gave us a very generous donation to help fund the toy drive.”
The apartment community also conducts an annual coat drive for local children, this year collecting more than 350 coats. The coats will be given to local elementary students in need.
‘Operation Reindeer’ helps veterans
Yesterday marked the completion of the first of many missions planned for “Operation Reindeer,” an initiative between workers at town hall, the ladies auxiliary of Riverhead VFW post 2476 and Riverhead Town Veterans Advisory Committee to deliver presents to previously homeless vets for Christmas.
The group chose a house owned and operated by Suffolk County United Veterans, in which three previously homeless vets reside. The veterans received a multitude of wrapped gifts and gift certificates from perfect strangers, who did not want them to be forgotten during the holidays.
Dottie Minnick and her elves went shopping, as did USMC veteran Carissa Willis, the Riverhead Town Board coordinator. Many others contributed gift certificates and clothing.
Riverhead PBA delivers Christmas cheer
The Riverhead PBA put together food and gift baskets for needy local families as part of an annual outreach program. Members of the PBA dropped off turkey dinners and Christmas presents yesterday. This year, 21 families were recipients of the donations.
Riverhead Rotary distributes 200 holiday dinner baskets
Riverhead Rotary donated 200 gift baskets to local needy families, something the club has been doing each year at Christmas for more than 37 years.
The Riverhead High School NJROTC pitched in with more than 43 cadets to help Rotary assemble and distribute the baskets at the high school. Each contained a complete holiday meal including a turkey and all of the fixings for a Christmas dinner. The baskets were topped off by a holiday poinsettia plant donated by Jack Van de Wetering of Ivy Acres.
Families were invited to participate by the Long Island Council of Churches office in Riverhead.
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