ROSELLE, NJ — The Roselle Police Department teamed up with students from Leonard V. Moore Middle School’s Generation on Kids Care Club to celebrate Giving Tuesday by hosting a Great Toy Giveaway in the school parking lot on Tuesday, Dec. 1.
“I run a service club called ‘Generation on,’” said Leonard V. Moore Middle School art teacher and club adviser Mira Septimus on Tuesday, Dec. 1. “Today, we are participating in a coast-to-coast Great Toy Giveaway, with the Kids for Peace Foundation in San Diego, Calif., Kansas and in Roselle. We have donations from the Toy Foundation, Amazon, Target, the Roselle Police Department and others. We are giving toys to every single child in our district.
“We got donations from Pinho’s Bakery in Roselle, who graciously gave food to all of our children, and the Parent Teacher Group, who is always our best partner in educating their children.”
According to a press release, the Kids for Peace Great Toy Giveaway is a peer-to-peer giving program that provides students the opportunity to put their compassion into action by distributing toys to children in need. These Roselle children did just that.
“We have about 1,500 toys here,” Septimus said. “What happened was … before COVID-19 hit, we donated our thousands of toys to the Newark Children’s Hospital and the Boys and Girls Club and to a few other shelters around Union County. We were then invited to participate a second time, which is this year, but because of COVID-19, we’re having a drive-through pickup in the parking lot.
Throughout the day, children arrived with their parents, whether on foot or by driving through. Each child received a toy.
“Our event is incredibly successful,” Septimus said. “We scheduled each school to come at a different time. So right now, we’re waiting for the elementary schools. We have three elementary schools with about 750 kids, and, hopefully, they’ll all come very soon.”
For obvious reasons, this year’s event is very different from last year’s.
“We had to do a lot of legwork,” Septimus said, “but these Generation on kids — they collaborated and worked together, all virtually, because we haven’t been in school since September. They meet virtually every week, sometimes in the evenings, sometimes in the afternoons. They made lists, they made schedules, made posters and fliers. They pulled it all together. These are just fifth- and sixth-graders, and they’re really awesome.”
Roselle public schools kindergarten instructional aide Ramesh Lopez was all for giving back, too.
“I think this is a great thing for our community,” Lopez said on Tuesday, Dec. 1 “We have a lot of underserved kids in this community, so this is one way that we can give back. Seeing a smile on the children’s faces is what makes it all worth it. It’s great to see them come out. We’re doing online instruction today until 12:45 p.m., so they’re just starting to get out of classes to come down. We hope to see a lot more children before the day is out by 3 p.m.”
Leonard V. Moore Middle School Principal Craig Messmer, who is in his ninth year at the school, was pleased with the event.
“I think this event has been very solid,” Messmer said on Tuesday, Dec. 1. “With COVID-19, there may be some people who are hanging back and staying home. They may not have been able to get out today, due to work considerations, but we do have a lot of toys. Whatever we don’t hand out specifically, we’re going to have a Plan B that will go into effect, and, once the day is over, we’ll get boxes, send them out to the schools, and, eventually, all of this stuff will get into the hands of children in a local town.”
Messmer said changes had to be incorporated because of the pandemic, but he insisted that it wasn’t going to stop them from giving out toys to the children.
“Last year, we did do a Giving Tuesday. It was different. We had toys that were given away to the Newark Children’s Hospital, but this is the first year doing it with our own students in the district,” he said. “We came up with the idea during COVID season. We’ve had to make sure that everyone has a mask on, tries to be as socially distant as possible and we’re trying to take as many precautions as we can. But also, we want people to come out and socialize a little. We just had extra discussions on ways to stay safe and ways to make sure that everyone can participate but not violate local rules. We’ll be sure to do this event again next year.”
The principal thanked the vendors that donated, praising Amazon and Target in particular, because each gave donations of thousands of dollars’ worth of product. He also thanked the Roselle Police Department for helping to set up, direct traffic and get the word out.
“Leonard V. Moore reached out to our community policing and asked us to participate in this Giving Tuesday,” said Roselle Police Lt. Helder Freire on Tuesday, Dec. 1. “We provided donations, our support as the police department and as the Policemen’s Benevolent Association, and we provided them with as many toys or funding as we can, in order to facilitate the peer-to-peer. So it’s basically the children of the schools giving out presents to other children in need. It’s similar to a peer-support program. Every chance we get, we try to partner. Our community policing is very active in the schools.
“This is a small community and it’s a part of being a village,” Freire continued. “I think this event is the best we can hope for. It’s been modified to have residents drive up. For those that can’t, we allow them to walk up. Most people that come together, we allow them to stay together, but I think it’s great. I think they have enough presents and toys to give out to the children. At least the children have something to celebrate this year. If not, they get to be a part of their peers and celebrate that unity.”
Superintendent of Roselle Schools Nathan L. Fisher praised the efforts of the school and community, especially in light of the pandemic.
“I’m excited just to see that this is one of the first and few times we had an opportunity to get the kids out,” Fisher said on Tuesday, Dec. 1. “Just for their social and emotional well-being, this was a wonderful event and opportunity to really connect with our students. Just to put a smile behind the mask. It’s been very impactful and touching in regard to bringing a sense of community to this activity.”
Photos by EmilyAnn Jackman