Changes made with toy drive
BROWNSVILLE – The retirement of Theresa Gladden from the Brownsville Soup Kitchen and the Salvation Army last month has meant some changes for the way toys are distributed to needy children in the area this year. The Brownsville Area Revitalization Corporation (BARC) will be handling the toy drive for Brownsville, West Browns-ville and Hiller this year, according to Lauri Tallant, who is working on the toy drive for BARC.
“We’re going to be taking over for Theresa Gladden and we have a big undertaking here,” Tallant said.
Local families wishing to apply for toys for their children ages 12 and under should take the children’s birth certificates and their Access card to the Flatiron Building by Tuesday. Tallant said all participants in the program this year must already be participating in the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare’s ACCESS program to qualify for the toy drive.
Tallant said once the information is gathered about each child, a gift tag including the child’s age and gender will be made up and placed on a gift tree in either the Flatiron Building, Brownsville General Hospital, the Historic Church of St. Peter or at several other local businesses participating in the toy drive. Members of the public can take tags from the trees to donate presents for a specific child, or donate a new, unwrapped toy to be handed out.
TJ Enterprises/Radio Shack will also be contributing presents and the Brownsville Rotary Club will be collecting new stuffed animals for the toy drive.
“We will distribute the toys the Saturday before Christmas from 2-4 p.m. at the Oddfellows Building,” Tallant said.
Tallant said the Brownsville Area High School French Class Honor Society will be helping to organize and prepare the toys for distribution.
For more information about the program, contact Tallant at the Flatiron Building Heritage Center at 724-785-9331.