This clowning around is serious

It was 3 a.m. on a Friday morning in November and Robbie Schonfeld, his family, the Allman family and several others were stuffing envelopes for Ossie’s Toy Fund, a non-profit organization that provides gifts for seriously ill children and their families in Israel.

Schonfeld, of Woodmere, started Ossie’s Toy Fund after he sought to establish something in his father’s memory. His father, Yosef, also known as Ossie, loved kids, and Schonfeld knew it would be a perfect way to remember his father.

“The toy fund originally started as apart of my son’s bar mitzvah project after he decided to help kids,” Schonfeld said. “In the beginning it was small but it eventually grew and grew.”

The toy fund began in 2003 but after one year they decided to partner with the specially trained medical clowns of Lev Leytzan and Chaiyanu (Chai Lifeline of Israel) to deliver the toys to hospitals, orphanages, homes and hospices in Israel. Chaiyanu distributes lists to the sick children and their families where they can then pick out gifts they want, large or small, depending on their preference.

The “wish lists” are then given to the toy fund so Schonfeld, his family and other volunteers can go shopping to buy the gifts the children asked for. “It’s a family affair when we go shopping,” Schonfeld said. “Even my 4-year-old is running up and down the aisles looking for toys for the young children.”

Dr. Neal Goldberg, the executive director of Lev Leytzan, said the toy fund found it difficult and painful their first year to go into hospitals and hospices to distribute the gifts on their own.

“We’re able to use our skills and training to go into places and brighten things up and make them more fun,” Goldberg said about Lev Leytzan. “We may be the only distraction and playful visit the children have while struggling with an illness.”

Larry Allman, a volunteer who coordinates student volunteers, assists with fundraising events and helps with public relations for Ossie’s Toy Fund, said an average of 3,000 toys are collected each year to donate to sick children in Israel.

After the collection, the toys are shipped by boat to Israel where people from the toy fund as well as Lev Leytzan and Chaiyanu are there to meet the boat in order to distribute the toys directly to the children.

Schmuly Allman, Larry’s son and a senior at Mesivta Ateres Yaakov High School in Lawrence, said he got involved with Ossie’s Toy Fund because it was the perfect opportunity to help others. “I figured it was a worthy cause,” he said. “It’s also going to help sick children and our school really pushes and encourages us to help out and volunteer.”

Davis Renov Stahler Yeshiva High School for Boys in Woodmere, the Hebrew Academy of Long Beach, Yeshiva Darchei Torah in Far Rockaway and Yeshiva School of Far Rockaway are all involved in Ossie’s Toy Fund.

Schonfeld thinks the kids that are involved are unbelievable. “I have kids who go around fundraising, running carnivals, who come shopping with us, load and pack trucks,” he said. “In fact, I have more kids who want to help than I have jobs for them.”