Belleville American Legion Spearheads Toy Drive: Photos

BELLEVILLE, NJ — The following news release comes courtesy of a Patch Belleville-Nutley community member. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.

American legion Post 105 and Sons of the American Legion (SAL) Squadron 105, participating in an event run by the Camp Polite organization, held a toy drive on 16 December 2021 at American Legion Post 105, collecting toys and needed items to be distributed locally within Belleville and Essex County. As organizer Georgeann Polite noted, everyone who participated in this toy drive during this season of giving “went all out to do what they do best ..... support and continue to serve the community”.

Founded in 2010, Camp Polite is a youth group named after Leroy Polite, Sr., and is dedicated to serving the community with the primary mission of helping to educate and cultivate the youth in a positive manner by providing activities, workshops, and physical activities that help to promote leadership, teamwork, and positive growth.

Unit 70 American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) member Georgeann Polite, who also runs Camp Polite and is a friend of Post 105, approached SAL 105 earlier in the fall about continuing to hold an annual toy drive which has been held in years past at the Post on Washington Avenue by the Kevin Kennedy Civic Association. The SAL jumped at the opportunity to co-sponsor the event – as SAL 105 Commander Steve Sangemino has said many times in all of 105’s youth programs over the years, “It’s all about the kids”.

The SAL in the next few weeks helped rally folks from around the American Legion Family at 105, as well as friends from throughout the community to come participate in the toy drive. The ultimate outpouring of support the day-of in both donations and toys was truly heartwarming.

In an event held on 16 December from 6-10pm, the Post hall had tables filled three or four deep with boxes and boxes of toys. In addition, health and beauty supplies and new clothes for the less fortunate were collected, with a focus on collecting, purchasing, and distributing toys that were sensitive to the needs of children that had sensory challenges or special needs. With Dr, Sam Sbarra as a partner as well as the Legion and the SAL, major donors from the evening also included Gwendolyn Walston, and the Sister Sharing and the Missionary Ministry programs of Second Baptist Church.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the evening was the cameo made by 2021-2022 SAL Detachment of NJ Commander Henry F. Hasselhan, the commander of the state-level organization of the Sons in New Jersey. Making his way all the way up from his home in Atco, Commander Hasselhan wanted to make the trip and support the Sons in Belleville. He later commented that “the Sons of the American Legion Squadron 105 has done an outstanding job to bring a little cheer by conducting a toy drive and distributing the toys to children in need. They are living up to one of the 4 pillars of the American Legion, Children and Youth, by conducting this community project.”

The next day Camp Polite organizers helped to get the toys to those who needed them and to those who could distribute them the best. Car loads of toys and needed items went from the Post to the Belleville Police Department, the Belleville Safe House (a shelter for domestic violence), the Special Dragons (a special needs karate instruction program), and to numerous local Belleville families, churches, and food pantries.

In addition to the Camp Polite Toy Drive, the Post also sponsors annually a Toys-for Tots collection, which is an outreach for needy kids during the holidays by the United States Marine Corps.

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