North Country This Week

It will be a brighter holiday this year for about 2,200 St. Lawrence County children, thanks to the Marine Toys for Tots program.

Three to four toys per child are distributed to Canton’s Church and Community Program, Potsdam’s Holiday Fund, Salvation Army in Ogdensburg and Massena, Gouverneur’s Fidelis Care, Star Lake’s Elves and the Hammond Library, said Toys for Tots organizer Christina Reynolds Thornhill.

Toys for Tots provides many of the toys given out by Canton’s all-volunteer Giving Tree program, which continues to expand.

“Almost all of our families receiving gifts are working families, but wages don’t cover extra thinks like gifts for their children,” said Canton’s Church and Community organizer Frances Bailey.

In 2018 the Giving Tree Program served 430 children. “In my opinion, the need is growing and resources are shrinking,” said Frances Bailey, program organizer for the past five years.

Each eligible Canton-area family receive a Giving Tree food certificate, redeemable at Save-a-Lot in Canton, to help them have a special meal to celebrate the holidays. Certificates will also be provided to seniors and people without children at the Church and Community Food Pantry.

Last year the Potsdam Holiday Fund provided gifts, books and clothing to over 500 children, and distributed food baskets and vouchers to over 300 families and 150 senior citizens. The program serves Potsdam, West Stockholm, Madrid, Nicholville, Brasher, Winthrop, Chase Mills, Fort Jackson and Hopkinton.

In Ogdensburg, Christina Reynolds Thornhill and Shannon Furgison Thornhill have been the volunteer Toys for Tots organizers for the past five years. Alyssa Brabant and Danielle Pray also volunteer their time to the cause.

“We want to give back to the community. Also, we want our children to be involved and understand not everyone is as fortunate as they are,” said Christina Thornhill. “We want them to appreciate what they have.”

State Troopers in Canton and Ogdensburg helped to transport toys donated by Marine Toys for Tots this year to Canton’s Giving Tree Program.

Each year local state troopers select a charity to assist during the holiday season, and this year they chose the Canton program that provides new toys, clothing, and books to children in Canton, Clare, Hermon, Russell, DeKalb and Rensselaer Falls.

Ogdensburg Walmart assisted with $2500 grant and a discount on toy purchases, and Gouverneur Kinney Drugs has also been very helpful with donations, said Thornhill.

Kinney Drugs organizer Cindy Oster said their company raised almost $4,000 and collected countless toys last year, in memory of their former manager. The Craig Wheeler Memorial Toys for Tots and Fund Drive was named “to keep Craig Wheeler’s memory alive. Craig loved kids. It is a fitting tribute to name this effort in his memory.”