Calling all ‘elves’ to help collect Christmas gifts

Calling all ‘elves’ to help collect Christmas gifts

Posted

Giving during this holiday season can began at the sixth annual Five Towns Community Center toy drive. Unwrapped toys for boys and girls and gift cards that can be used at local stores can be brought to either the Five Towns Community Center, 270 Lawrence Ave, room 340 at the Lawrence Elementary School at 195 Broadway or the Five Towns Karate School, located at 298 Lawrence Ave., all in Lawrence.

Gifts will be collected up until Dec. 21 and will be distributed throughout the local community by volunteers wearing elf ears and driving sleighs (cars complete with decorative reindeer antlers, according to Sasha Young, an Inwood resident who has volunteered at the community center for seven years. Gifts for children 8 to 14 are most needed, she said.

Young said that she and others are trying to expand their reach by posting the information on Facebook for families that may need a little help around the holidays to contact them. “Christmas is a tough time for a lot of people in this area,” she said. “Parents that are struggling and we try to help give kids that magical feeling when they wake up and see gifts under the tree.”