Community comes together for Toys For Tots

MOUNT ARLINGTON – Volunteers from the Nolan’s Ridge community in partnership with the local girls scouts, teamed up with borough officials, including the members of the recreation department, to host the fifth annual Toys For Tots kickoff celebration, Saturday, December 5 at the Nolan’s Ridge clubhouse.
Visitors enjoyed a carnival atmosphere, lunching on hot dogs and chips, caroling courtesy of borough Girl Scout troops and a visit with Santa.
The 140-home, 55-and-over community, located off Howard Boulevard, has been privately holding a Toys For Tots campaign since 2009, said Steve Sadow, who co-chairs the event with five other Nolan’s Ridge residents. In the past the group has collected between 200 to 400 toys, said Sadow, but by Saturday’s event, the group already amassed

nearly 600 toys. The campaign runs until Friday, December 19.
“We’ve had some amazing monetary donations which has enabled us to buy boxes and boxes of toys,” said Sadow who credits the partnership with borough for this year’s growth and success. “We’ve gotten about $5,000 in donations,” he said.
Marines from Picatinny Arsenal were on hand to thank the group for its participation in the Toys For Tots program. All the toys collected will be brought to Picatinny to be distributed locally he said.
The highlight of the celebration was the arrival of Santa Claus, brought to the Nolan’s Ridge clubhouse by one of the borough’s fire trucks. Children of all ages got a chance to sit on Santa’s lap and receive a candy cane from one of Santa’s helpers.
“This is pretty big,” said borough mayor Art Ondish. “And it’s just going to grow. This is another example of the good things this town does,” he added.