Korony Post provides hundreds of toys for needy kids
Volunteers from the American Legion post spreading holiday cheer were (l-r) Joanne Cunningham, Lorraine
Johnson, Delores Stoltze, Judy Lanci, Ruth Leich and Anthony Ferrara.
Schneps Community News Group / Patrick Rocchio
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, J BTR ANUARY 25-31, 2019 57
BY PATRICK ROCCHIO
A busy American Legion
post was transformed for one
day into Santa’s workshop for
local kids in need.
The Joseph Mazzariello
Theodore Korony American
Legion Post #253 Toy Drive
once again distributed toys
this holiday season to eight local,
non-profi t charitable organizations.
The merry band of Santa’s
helpers distributed the toys to
representatives from organizations
– ranging from shelters
for women and children to
churches to after-school programs
– on Tuesday, December
18 from a donated space in
Throggs Neck.
This year approximately
900 toys were distributed, according
to organizers.
The legion sent out letters
to its membership, auxiliary
and Sons of the American Legion
chapter asking for donations
to purchase the gifts,
and toys were also collected at
locations including Throggs
Neck Memorial American Legion
Post #1456, Bronxonia
Yacht Club and First Lutheran
Church of Throggs Neck, said
Anthony Ferrara, one of the
volunteers.
“We follow Joe Mazzariello’s
mission: no child should
be without a toy at Christmas,”
said lead drive coordinator
Judy Lanci, referring to
the founder and namesake of
the drive, a U.S. Marine who
ran it for decades.
Lanci added: “They are
went to really needy children.
Thank God most of the children
in our own community
are taken care of during the
holidays. Our job is to help
veterans’ families and take it
a few steps beyond.”
Support for the drive also
came from a donation from the
National Guard, said Lanci,
and from residents of Edgewater
Park, added Ferrara.
Lanci said that after Mazzariello
passed away, she took
over the leadership of the toy
drive, verifying the credentials
of non-profi t organizations
that the toy drive was
serving.
In the ten years that have
passed, some organizations
have been added to the roster
of charities the drive benefi ts,
she said.
The charities present the
Korony post with lists of ages
and genders of the boys and
girls requiring gifts, and the
drive coordinators do their
best to fulfi ll the requests,
said Ferrara, who also assists
the Waterbury LaSalle Community
Association’s annual
Christmas Tree lighting by
playing Santa Claus.
“Personally, I think every
single toy we give to these organizations
goes to a child
who probably wouldn’t be getting
anything on Christmas
morning,” said Ferrara.
Cathy Praino, a local veterans
advocate who is a volunteer
with the drive, said she
volunteers because she recognized
the importance of children
having toys at Christmas
during the 18 years she spent
working at an orphanage.
Recipients of the toy drive
were Aquila, Inc., which operates
a shelter on Morris Park
Avenue in West Farms; Acaica
Network; Antioquia Church –
Christian and Missionary Alliance;
The Bible Church of
Christ; Concourse House; St
John Chrysostom’s School;
Einstein Hospital’s Children’s
Evaluation and Rehabilitation
Center and Claremont Neighborhood
Center.
The post’s annual holiday
toy drive accepts monetary
donations all year round for
its philanthropic efforts, said
Lanci.
Checks for future drives
should be payable to the ‘Theodore
Korony Christmas Toy
Drive’ and mailed to Throggs
Neck Station, P.O. Box 833,
Bronx, New York 10465.