This year, the East Hampton Kiwanis Club’s toy drive is in memory of Renee Alversa, a longtime Montauk resident who died on Nov. 1 at the age of 61.
The Kiwanis Club annually collects new and unwrapped toys, books and games for children in need. Ms. Alversa’s sister Corinne joined the club last year. “My mom always loved Christmas and was always decorating her house to make kids and people happy,” said her son, Kenneth Alversa, an East Hampton Town police sergeant. People would come by ever year just to see her house lit up for Christmas.
“I have always helped my mom with the lights since I was a little kid. As I got older, I would always ask her if we still needed to put up all the Christmas lights and every year I would get an emphatic, ‘Yes.’ She would say, ‘It’s Christmas time. The lights aren’t for you, the lights are to make other people happy. There might be kids who have never seen them before.’ That’s why I decided to ask people to donate toys for kids who might be less fortunate,” he said. “I felt like that’s a good way to remember her and something she felt so passionate about around the holidays.”
Donations can be dropped off anytime before Wednesday at several locations: in Montauk at Herb’s Deli and M&R Deli, at Brent’s Deli in Amagansett, in East Hampton Village at Village Hardware, Scoop du Jour, and Halstead Properties, at One Stop Market in East Hampton, and at the Springs General Store and Springs Pizza.
