Another Huge Haul For The 41st A.D. Democrats Club Toys For Tots Drive

Another successful haul for the 41st A.D. Democrats Club annual Toys for Tots drive.

The group, which has been recognized by the Marine Corps three years running as the largest toy drive in New York City, counted more than 3,000 donated gifts at their annual end-of-year party Thursday night. And club members say toys are still pouring in.

Community leaders and elected officials, including city councilmen Chaim Deutsch, Alan Maisel, Vincent Gentile, and Jumaane Williams as well as Assemblymembers Helene Weinstein and Steven Cymbrowitz and Public Advocate Letitia James, showed up to help load the mountain of toys into trucks for the Marines, who run Toys for Tots.

The political club, run by district leader Lew Fidler, has donated more than 60,000 toys to the charity during the last decade. Many of those donations come in from smaller “feeder drives” run by partner organizations in the area.

One of those drives was hosted by the Be Proud Foundation Monday at the National Restaurant in Brighton Beach. The event drew more than 150 guests and collected 390 Toys, according to the organizations’ founder and president Raisa Chernina.

Kid dancers from the Tovushi Kavkazi Jewish Youth Center and the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre entertained guests and each child was given a present. There was also a gymnast and two singers to keep the fun going, Chernina said.