You waited and waited. And then you donated and donated. But now the time has come. You all have earned the right to know what the big surprise is all about. So, without any further delay, we here at the Secret Sandy Claus Project are extremely proud to announce to you the following: Marines Toys for Tots, Secret Sandy Claus Project and We Care NY Are Joining Forces To Help Children Less Fortunate This Holiday Season! Staff Sergeant Dustin Ramirez, NYC Marines Toys for Tots Coordinator, along with Michael Sandy Claus Sciaraffo, Founder and CEO of the Secret Sandy Claus Project and Michael Taylor, President of We Care New York are proud to announce that our organizations are officially partnering this Holiday Season in an effort to expand our shared goals to distribute as many toys to children who are less fortunate throughout New York City as we possibly can. “NYC Marines Toys for Tots is looking forward to this new partnership because it will allow the reach of our shared goals to expand our reach and help many more children who are less fortunate throughout New York City. Previously, when the Marines received individual toy requests, we had to direct them to local non-profits and police precincts that we provide thousands of toys to each year.”, said Staff Sergeant Dustin Ramirez, the NYC Marines Toys for Tots Coordinator. “This new partnership will allow us the ability to direct individual family toy requests on our website to the Secret Sandy Claus Project. And with We Care New York’s assistance and coordination, we will have many more volunteers helping us at our toy sorting operation. It’s a win-win situation for all involved.” The Secret Sandy Claus Project, which was established in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, is a division of America’s Disaster Relief non-profit organization which delivers toys to children at their homes dressed as Santa and hosts toy distribution events throughout New York City and beyond. Last year, they delivered toys to thousands of individual families affected by the storm by teams of Santas and Elves, stretching from Long Island throughout New York City and all the way around the devastated coastline to as far as Atlantic City, New Jersey. They even had an operation in tornado stricken Moore, Oklahoma last year. “We are thrilled to be partnering with NYC Marines Toys for Tots, as it will allow our organization the capacity to expand our reach to not just those affected by Sandy but now to many more children who may be disabled, economically disadvantaged or stricken with childhood cancer. It really opens up the possibilities for who our organization can help.”, said Michael “Sandy Claus” Sciaraffo, founder of the Secret Sandy Claus Project. “By having joint toy collection boxes with the Marines Toys for Tots, it will enable us the capability of producing many more toys than years past. We will be able to turn that generosity into delivering many thousands of smiles for children who are less fortunate throughout New York City.” The inspiration to start We Care New York also emerged from the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy. We Care New York sought to form an organization comprised of talented, dedicated and compassionate volunteers to coordinate outreach services and assist in ensuring resources are made available to communities that are less fortunate across New York City. “We Care NY’s role will be to provide the logistical support and assisting with the recruitment and coordination of volunteer teams that will be helping the Marines at their facility at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn. By joining forces with NYC Marines Toys for Tots, we can share our organization’s resources and talents, helping many more people in need and expanding our network into as many communities as we can”, said Michael Taylor, President of We Care New York. “Many more children who are less fortunate will be smiling this holiday season as a result of our new partnership, our shared mission and collective efforts. Helping those in need is really what it is all about.” We Care NY will be looking for volunteer teams in November & December to assist the Marines with unloading, sorting, inspecting, and packaging toys for pick up and will be needed every day and anytime between 8 am to 8 pm, 7 days a week. Ideal volunteer teams will consist of students from colleges and high schools seeking community service credit, corporate entities that would like to send volunteer teams to assist the Marines as well as other non-profit and civic organizations looking to lend support to our shared mission. Please let us know if you can recruit a team to help this great program bring smiles to the faces of NYCs less fortunate children. Please visit Brooklyn-NY.ToysForTots.org and WeCareNewYork.org for details on how to volunteer at the Marines Toy Sorting Facility, register nonprofits for toy requests or to make a tax deductible donation. If you would like to get involved as a Santa or an Elf with the Secret Sandy Claus Project, want to register children for toys or to make a tax deductible donation, please visit SSCPNY.org. Marines Toys for Tots, the Secret Sandy Claus Project We Care NY are 501c3 Not-for-Profit organizations.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 21:00:43 +0000