Despite there being less physical toy donations, the annual holiday toy drive, hosted by the Westport Police Department (WPD) and its partners, were still able to provide for many families and saw a large increase in cash donations as a result.
For more than 20 years, the WPD, along with the Westport Police Athletic League (PAL) and Westport Police Benevolent Association, have worked together to support local families throughout the holiday season. This year, the drive produced less toy donations than in previous years but saw double what is normally received for cash donations.
“It was not our best year,” Corporal Craig Bergamo said. “Normally, we get a lot more […] physical toys than cash. But, people were very generous with cash this year.”
Donations are what the organizations rely on in order to have a successful drive. So, to meet demand, officers like Bergamo, the current president of PAL, went out and purchased toys on their own time.
“I was able to, with another officer, go over and purchase a bunch of toys that filled the trailer to what we needed to fill the trailer, which filled the gap,” Bergamo said.
Each year, officers look to provide new and unwrapped toys for underprivileged children, receiving help from local shelters and churches.
“So how it normally works is we have shelters or churches [or community centers] that we deal with,” Bergamo said. “Really, they’re just looking for [toys] from newborn up to 18 years old. And whatever we get, […] it’s normally like a good assortment of gifts […] So it’s really good to […] just bag them up and get the bags when we get to certain places.”
Despite the drive having ended, officers are still willing to accept donations and are grateful for any help.
“I just had a charity reach out to me,” Bergamo said. “And you know, we already gave out all of our gifts, but because of what we had in the stores already, I […] filled their car completely, filled our cart with toys after a weekend of just our donations from the local toy stores. So it’s pretty good. We’re always looking for more help or whatever, because there’s always people out there.”
With each year, the WPD and its partners hope that it will bring more success to the community.
“We have a great town of Westport that is generous to us every year,” Bergamo said. “Because of their generosity and everything that they do for us and anyone else who comes and donates, we’re able to give to so many people around the area.”
