Tech students lead Toys for Tots drive

LYNN – Lynn Vocational Technical Institute?s class of 2013 is about to wrap up its third year of gift-giving to the less fortunate.Six juniors at the high school – with the help of two teacher advisors – have spearheaded a school-wide Toys for Tots drive, which collects new, unwrapped, non-violent toys to be distributed to local children.Around 250 toys have already been gathered, and the school donated 300 toys to the nationwide charity last year.The students hope to accumulate 500 toys this year, working in conjunction with Shoemaker Elementary School.?They donate a ton, and they?re our partner in this,” said auto body teacher and advisor Barry McCaul.He added that other Lynn public schools also donate toys.This year?s donation period ends with a dance this Friday night at LVTI, which all high school students in Lynn can attend.The admission is $5 with a toy or $7 without one. Part of the money raised from the dance will go toward purchasing toys for next year?s drive.Following the dance, McCaul said he will load the toys into his pick-up truck and take them to a Toys for Tots drop-off site in Burlington.However, donations are accepted year-round.?We have toys from last year that people donated after the dance,” said special education math teacher and advisor Omayra Feliz.The student officers on the Toys for Tots project work on a volunteer basis, and said they have publicized the drive through fliers, word of mouth and the class of 2013 Facebook page.McCaul said a majority of the officers have been with the project since they were freshmen.?These guys give up their time because they want to,” he said. “They?ve done everything we?ve asked.”The class of 2013 has also been involved in other community service projects, such as busing tables and cleaning up at Brother?s Deli in Lynn when it served free dinners on Thanksgiving.The class?s involvement with Toys for Tots started three years ago. At the time, proceeds from the school?s fourth dance of the year, which falls around Christmas, benefited the freshman class, but McCaul said attendance at that dance can be low. So the then-freshmen came up with the drive to entice more students to come.?It was a little hook to get them into our dance, and we decided to keep it ever since,” McCaul said.One student officer, 17-year-old Betty Sanchez, said she and the other officers got involved with the Toys for Tots project for an altruistic purpose .?We do it for a good deed,” she said. “Of course every little kid would like something to open under the Christmas tree.”Anyone in the community interested in donating can email McCaul at [email protected] or Feliz at [email protected], or call the LVTI?s main office at 781-477-7420.Sarah Mupo can be reached at [email protected].