For the past 20 years Weidel Real Estate’s Bordentown location has teamed up with the Toys for Tots program to become a giving-hub in the area for children in need during the holiday season.
With a Toys for Tots sign perched on their property at 800 Farnsworth Ave. since mid-October, the emblem serves as a calling for residents to stop in and donate gifts for a beneficial cause.
What has become a staple epicenter in the area for a nationally recognized charitable cause grew to be more than the employees had anticipated this year as they received an overflow of boxes upon boxes of toys stacked inside the office’s reception area.
Although the mounds of protruding toys force employees to maneuver around them as they make their way to their desks, the Bordentown location’s branch manager, Linda Carnival, said the surplus of donated toys serves as a significant symbol of giving rather than an obstacle.
“The people that purchased these toys whether it’s one toy or bags of toys – you can tell this was a major gift from them to a child that needs a gift,” Carnival said. “We’ve had a ton of people coming in [with donations] since the end of October. Even this morning, we had people still coming in. We get phone calls, ‘Are you still doing it?’ ‘Yes, we are.’ Even kids are coming in with money they saved, and their parents let them pick out a gift to bring in for children.”
In becoming a key location in the surrounding community for the charitable holiday initiative, Carnival said that the Bordentown people anticipate the start of the donation period, approaching her even when she’s outside of the office.
As residents donate more toys each year, Carnival said she aspires for the community effort to persist and grow, noting that the location’s popularity for the program has had a likely influence on other businesses and organizations in the area.
“People [around here] actually look forward to it. They’ll stop me on the streets if I’m in Bordentown City, and they’ll say, ‘It’s almost time for Toys for Tots,’” Carnival said. “It’s something I want to have engrained in the surrounding community – that this is something that’s a community project, and we need every single person to support no matter what they’re offering a child.
“We’ve seen more Toys for Tots signs out now in this area than I have seen in years, which means something [about this] is contagious. I think that the ‘contagious’ is people helping people. If you’re helping people and children are involved, I think that’s magnificent.”
Although the nationally recognized program is open to most businesses and organizations to participate, the amount of donations attained from location-to-location can fluctuate.
Given the Weidel Real Estate building’s excess of donations, Carnival said she believes the business’ personnel serve a role as well in their influence on those who walk in the door.
“We had a guy come in who was a former Marine. He brought in three bags the other day, and he says, ‘I’m coming back to give more.’ He comes in with more bags and says, ‘I have no grandkids, and this is something I can do because Christmas is all about kids,” Carnival said. “It’s the conversation [with the people] too. We’re not only helping the kids, we’re helping the people that are giving and they just want to be included. I see that as being such a tremendous asset.”
As Carnival reflected on the history of the location’s involvement with the program, she said that the people who grew up in the area and donated to the building have continuously done so year after year as she aspires for it to not only become a growing effort, but a sustainable one as well.
“A lot of people who’ve come here and donated have been coming here for many years, dropping off toys,” Carnival said. “There’s people [who’ve donated here] that were tots themselves and are now teenagers, some are in college, and still donate.”
With the location holding off donations after two months to finally be collected on Dec. 21, Carnival said as representative and generous as the community’s effort was, the most important aspect of it was the main purpose it was serving this holiday season.
“We see the people who donate, and for the children who have next to nothing are very limited, will now have a very nice Christmas,” Carnival said. “It really does give our company the satisfaction to know that children have their Christmas wishes come true.”