POUND RIDGE, N.Y. – The Pound Ridge Police Benevolent Association is only in its second year collecting presents for the annual Toys for Tots drive and already it’s become a resounding success.

The PBA began collecting toys for the renowned charity for the first time last year and with the help of Scotts Corner Market and Blind Charlie’s Café, more than 400 toys were donated. This holiday season, the number has nearly doubled.

“This year, so far, we have collected about 700 toys,” said Pound Ridge Police Sgt. Mike Armistead. “We have made two deliveries – one on Dec. 11 with about 500 toys and another on Dec. 21 with about 200 more.”

The PBA had so many toys to deal with it needed two vehicles to deliver them – Armistead’s truck and fellow police officer Gary Oliver’s van.

Armistead said the PBA and Toys for Tots will continue to collect gifts for needy children right up through the first of year, so it’s not too late to donate a new, unwrapped toy at one of the drop-off points throughout the town.

“Scotts Corner Market and Blind Charlie’s Cafe assist us with this program each year and have drop-off containers outside of their businesses for 24-hour drop-off availability,” Armistead said. “There is also a third drop-off container located at the entrance to the police station at 179 Westchester Ave.  We collect toys until the first of the year with the collection boxes, but toys can be dropped off at the Pound Ridge Police Department any time of the year.”

The PBA donates toys to domestic violence shelters and programs for children of domestic violence throughout the year.

Armistead said one of the reasons that the drive has been so successful this year is that Pound Ridge town employees have rallied around it.

 “This year, the employees of the Pound Ridge Town House passed up on their annual secret Santa gift swap and instead they donated toys for the Toys for Tots program,” he said.

Town Clerk Joanne Pace explained that each year the town employees have a holiday luncheon where they traditionally exchange secret Santa gifts. This year, instead, they chose to donate to the toy drive.

“This year we decided to donate either some cash or a toy,” Pace said. “I took the cash that we collected and went toy shopping, which was fun. We ended up collecting a huge trash bag full of toys. It was rewarding and made us all feel pretty good.”

Armistead said he was grateful to all the Pound Ridge residents who helped make this year’s drive a success.

 “We would like to thank everybody for donating this year to others who are less fortunate during the holidays,” he said.

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