Every year, Ridgewood Moving Services (Ridgewood Moving) helps make the Used Toy Drive in Paterson a reality. We work hard to support the event by collecting toy donations at our office and transporting them with our own trucks! Ridgewood Moving has been doing this for over 20 years because we love to help bring joy to the children in our community.
We also respect the origins of the event and everything that it stands for. Betsy Haley, a Toy Sale Coordinator, has been around since the Toy Drive first began and has been able to chronicle the history of the event itself! We’ve put her work below to show our readers how important the Toy Drive has been in the past, so thank you Betsy for writing this inspiring piece:
In 1984 on a sunny fall day a small group of volunteers from Bergen Highlands United Methodist Church in Upper Saddle River were volunteering at a Saturday clothing sale in Paterson at CUMAC, the Center of United Methodist Aid to the Community, a food and clothing pantry. In a corner of the small church facility they found a box of donated stuffed animals and various other children’s toys. Across the street from the church was the Paterson Boys Club. Children …toys …. the Paterson Toy Sale was born! Peter Thornton, the director of the Boys Club willingly donated the gym for that first December Saturday morning event.
In the first years, the sale was only church sponsored with toys being donated by church members and their friends. But good news travels fast and ten years later, the communities of Saddle River, Upper Saddle River the Montvale School PTO, Bergen County Juniors, the Girl Scouts, and many other individuals from neighboring towns were donating toys and volunteering to help out on sale day. Rob and Cindy Myer of Ridgewood Moving Services came to the rescue one year when donations topped our station wagon and SUV abilities to transport toys. Ridgewood Moving Services has been volunteering their trucks and employees for 20 years.
2015 is the 31st year of the Paterson Toy Sale, which always occurs on the first Friday and Saturday in December. It has grown from a three table, two hour event for children to a two day multi-thousand toy event requiring two moving vans for delivery. Friday night is “Kid Night”. Only kids are allowed to shop and if you volunteer that night, it is some of the most fun you’ll ever have! Saturday morning is open to the community. Children can shop for their entire family for $2.00. Parents spend $10.00 and walk away with toys for three children. All proceeds are equally donated to CUMAC and the Boys and Girls Club (new name, same director). There are no expenses. All work is done by volunteers and every toy is donated by people who simply want to reach out at Christmas time to make a difference in a child’s life.
On a personal note, the Paterson Toy Sale is one of the best days of my year. It is what Christmas is all about.
If you enjoyed reading about the Toy Drive and want to help make a difference, please consider making a donation this year to the 31st Annual Used Toy Drive in Paterson! As always, we’re accepting donations of all toys in good condition, so please make a stop by our office if you are interested:
575 Corporate Drive Ste 405
Mahwah, NJ 07430
Are you a raving fan of Ridgewood Moving Services? Then leave us a testimonial or a review! You can do so on our testimonials page, Yelp, Google +, or Angie’s List. Every review helps us out, so please consider choosing one of the links above. Thanks for reading everyone!