Somewhere under the rainbow ...

Trent Cox caught this beautiful moment with nature smiling over the Terrace on Dec. 21, 2012.

Toy Drive a success, and we thank you!

PHOTO BY BILL DOWD

(Story reprinted from the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club website)

Chez Dowd has become Toy Central for the past few months as the Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club makes its pushes to collect holiday toys for the children of Staten Island who lost their possessions, in many cases their very homes, and their hopes for a happy Christmas and Hanukkah season.

Toy drive creator/coordinator (and shopper extraordinaire) April Dowd -- shown above with the latest batch of toys she came up with this week -- now qualifies to list experience as "toy purchaser/acquirer" on her resume after the drive is completed.

Why? We collected an estimated 750 toys!

We've been periodically thanking various people for their efforts and donations during our drive. Here are two more special mentions:

• Former SRC members Sue and Chas Owens, now active with the Northville Rotary Club, for making a major contribution to the effort.

• The Terrace at Highpointe Homeowners Association in Troy for stepping up big-time with donations.

We'll be doing the final packing Saturday and shipping the toys to Staten Island on Sunday, via Forth Holiday Freight.

Thanks for supporting 'Toys for Staten Island Kids'

We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our neighbors on the Terrace in supporting the "Toys for Staten Islands Kids" drive by our Southern Rensselaer County Rotary Club.

While similar drives for kids in the Capital Region are special, too, we targeted the Staten Island area in particular because it was so heavily devastated by Superstorm Sandy. Thousands of residents were displaced, and still are living in shelters after having lost all possessions.

That means these kids are going to wake up on Christmas morning, or throughout Hanukkah, to not only squalid living conditions and soup kitchen meals, but to another bitter disappointment without people like you.

We still are accepting donations of new, unwrapped toys (balls, cards, board games, dolls, stuffed animals, boos, etc.) until noon this Thursday.

Special thanks to these Terrace residents who have been so generous:

• Ginny & Tom Chichester 
• Nancy & John Victor 
• Terry Page 
• Lorraine & Harvey Bailey 
• Claire & Fil Steiner 
• Anne Hunter 
• Russ & Rose Golino 
• Bob & Polly Hayward 
• Jerry & Maryanne Gordon 
• The Claeys granddaughters 
• Joan Richardson 
• Kay Duclos 
• Trent Cox 

Our deepest thanks,

April & Bill Dowd

Your contributions begin ...

In response to our request for dontions to the toy drive for NYC metro area kids whose homes were wiped out by Superstorm Sandy, the first results are in.

Our thanks to Ginny and Tom Chichester for delivering the first bag of donated goodies from Terrace residents, and to Terry Page for offering temporary spillover storage space should we need it.

And the winners will be ... the aforementioned kids!

For details on the drive, headed by April Dowd with a modest assist from Bill, just scroll down.

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