PATROL Officer Kelley Tobyne is shown holding the popular games “Memory” and “Hi-Ho Cherry-O” that were recently donated to the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots annual drive. (Gail Lowe Photo)
By GAIL LOWE
WAKEFIELD — The letters to the North Pole begin . . . “Dear Santa . . .”
But some good little boys and girls will have a bleak Christmas morning unless people in the community come to their rescue.
As in years past, the Wakefield Police Department is collecting toys for the the U.S. Marines Toys for Tots annual drive.
This year, the campaign kicked off the day before Thanksgiving and it’s now in full swing. A collection bin has been placed in the lobby of the Public Safety Building on Union Street and people are welcome to bring donated toys there. The building is open 24 hours a day seven days a week.
Det. Kenneth Silva is now waiting to learn the location of the drop-off center so the toys collected can be safely delivered. Helping Silva are Patrol Officers John Whaley, Jonathan Burnham and Matthew Chambers.
“We always have plenty of toys and always get good support from the community,” said Silva. “We hope that continues this year. We’re grateful for every bit of support.”
Dolls, games, puzzles, dump trucks and Matchbox cars are always popular with girls and boys and no donation will be considered too small. They should be brand new and unwrapped.
Life continues to be difficult for many who have been out of work or have had to cobble together two or more jobs to keep food on the table. Others who lost jobs during the Great Recession have accepted work that pays far less than their previous positions. These are the people who need your help.
According to the Brookings Institution, newly released Census Bureau data confirms that, four years into an official economic recovery, the nation’s largest metro areas continued to struggle with stubbornly high poverty levels even amidst improving employment numbers. An analysis of the 2013 American Community Survey data on residents living below the federal poverty line ($23,834 for a family of four in 2013) reveals that the poor population in the 100 largest metro areas grew by 10 million between 2000 and 2013.
More than two-thirds of the increase in major metro poverty from 2000 to 2013 occurred in suburbs like Wakefield.
All this being said, toys are not the only things children need. They also need food and a warm place to live.
The Wakefield Interfaith Food Pantry provides people in need with food for parents and their children, but there are other needs as well — paper products like toilet paper and diapers, laundry detergent and even Band-Aids, to name a few.
The Salvation Army is another organization to consider giving to. If you hear a Salvation Army bell ringer, reach into your pocket and give a donation. And, if you can, give generously.
A child’s smiling face on Christmas morning is well worth the investment.
