Pictured here is the 2018 toy collection at Beacon Pilates. Photo Credit: Beacon Pilates and A Little Beacon Blog — Pictured here is the 2018 toy collection at Beacon Pilates.
*Photo Credit: Beacon Pilates and A Little Beacon Blog*

Last Updated: 12/5/2019

Every year, community organizations fire up toy drives to help donate to kids in need. If you’re looking to donate toys to these drives, it’s best to mark your calendar for just before Thanksgiving, as that’s when these opportunities start opening up - some are even as early as October, like Toys for Tots. It’s good to get an early start too with Adopt-a-Family programs, which require more attention to detail in terms of what kind of toys you are purchasing for which family member. So mark your calendar for mid-November to return to this list to get a head start! And subscribe to our newsletter to get early advance notice.

If you missed a toy deadline and really want to give, consider a donation to the organization the toy is being collected for instead.

Things to know about Toy Drive Collections:

Wish Lists: Generally, the organization provides guidance on what type of gift to give. They know their kids and what they need or want.
New: Toys need to be new and in original packaging.
Usually Unwrapped: Usually the Wish List will ask for unwrapped toys.
No Guns or Other Violent Toys: Even if your kids love it, there is extra sensitivity for these kids.

BEACON PILATES

Beacon Pilates is collecting new toys for Children’s Home of Poughkeepsie.
Kids: 80 kids live in 11 facilities, ages newborn to 21 years
Wish List: Click here for the wish list and gift guidance. Juliet, the owner of Beacon Pilates, also has a list of individual wish list items. Email info@beaconpilates.com for more specific recommendations.
Location Drop-Off: Beacon Pilates, 18 West Main St., Beacon, NY (near Brett’s Hardware)
Times: 9 am to 9 pm
Deadline: Monday, December 16, 2019
The Children’s Home is dedicated to providing a safe and nurturing environment that improves lives and empowers at-risk children and families in the Hudson Valley and surrounding communities. The Children’s Home of Poughkeepsie provides residential care on the main campus in Poughkeepsie, in agency boarding homes or group homes off campus and apartments in the community. On any given day, over 90 children receive services in one of the home’s programs.

The STUDIO @ BEACON

The Studio @ Beacon is collecting new toys for Toys For Tots.
Location Drop-Off: The Studio @ Beacon, 301 Main St., Beacon, NY (next to Royal Crepes)
Deadline: Go now!
The basic mission of the Marine Toys for Tots Program is to collect new, unwrapped toys and distribute those toys to less fortunate children at Christmas. The primary goal of Marine Toys for Tots is, through the gift of a new toy, help bring the joy of Christmas and send a message of hope to America's less fortunate children. In order to better execute the program, in 1991 the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation was created at the behest of the Marine Corps.

BEACON’S SALVATION ARMY

The Salvation Army of Beacon is collecting toys via their “Angel Tree” at two locations with Wish Tags. Says Captain Leilani Alarcon: “We have toy wishes, and usually also like to get a couple of warm outfits, since most of the kids that participate are needy and their parents can’t afford to buy coats and boots, and such. Everything desired is on the tag. Wherever the tag is picked up, is a drop-off location, or people can bring them directly to our location in Beacon - the church. My email and cell information are on the tags for people to arrange drop-offs at our building.”
Kids: Captain Leilani Alarcon described to us the types of children they reach with this toy drive: “Most of the kids for our toy drive are from low-income housing (Tompkins Terrace), as well as needy families that have come all the way from Hopewell and Poughkeepsie because they missed sign-in dates at the Poughkeepsie Salvation Army. Kids also are sent from Social Services or from our Food Pantry Assistance for Families here in the church as well. We have decided not to set an age range, since most older children get forgotten by most programs, so we have kids from 0 to 16.“
Wish List: Select a tag from the Angel Tree. It will have an exact gif suggestion.
Location Drop-Offs:
Planet Fitness in Wappingers Falls: 1572 U.S. 9, Wappingers Falls, NY 12590
Hilton Garden at Fishkill: 25 Westage Drive, Fishkill, NY 12524
Salvation Army Church in Beacon: 372 Main St., Beacon, NY (drop-off only, the Angel Trees are at the above locations). The main entrance of the church is actually behind it, by their parking lot off of Fishkill Avenue. Tuesdays and Thursdays are best for dropping off toys or bringing a donation to their Food Pantry (even year-round), as that is when their receptionist is there. Or, you can email Captain Leilani Alarcon at Leilani.Alarcon@USE.SalvationArmy.Org to make arrangements for other days.
Deadline: TBA

LIBBY FUNERAL HOME

Libby Funeral Home is collecting stuffed stockings for Stockings For Soldiers.
Location Drop-Off: Libby Funeral Home, 55 Teller Ave., Beacon, NY
Deadline: TBA
If filling stockings brings you joy during the holiday season, and so does giving the stockings to someone who isn’t expecting them, then this holiday initiative is for you. Libby Funeral Home has set up a free stocking for you to take home, decorate and stuff to the brim with holiday cheer. You will receive a list of recommended items along with the stocking. Libby Funeral & Cremation Services will ship the stockings (at their expense) to troops abroad in time for the holidays.
Details >

GRACE SMITH HOUSE

Grace Smith House organizes an annual Adopt-A-Family program.
Deadline: TBA
During the holiday season, Grace Smith House opens its doors to countless survivors of domestic violence and their families. They need your help to provide holiday joy to the families who shelter serve. They are seeking items such as baby monitors (new), women's robes, women’s pajamas (all sizes), grocery store gift cards, gas gift cards, underwear (women, girls, boys), jewelry, makeup, shampoos and conditioners, body wash and spray, and more.
Details >

ALL SPORT HEALTH + FITNESS

All Sport Health + Fitness is collecting select gifts via a wish-list tree. To participate, go to the fitness center and take a wish off the tree. Fulfill the wish, and bring it back!
Location Drop-Off: All Sport, 17 Old Main St., Fishkill, NY 12524
Deadline: Go now!

LOVE HOLDS LIFE AT LEWIS TOMPKINS HOSE CO. #1 OF THE BEACON FIRE DEPARTMENT

The fifth annual Toy Giveaway in Honor of Carmen Viruet-Senato is being hosted with the help of Love Holds Life Children’s Cancer Foundation. They are collecting new and unwrapped toys for children ages 2 to 14 years old, to be distributed on Saturday, December 15, with Cookies and Cocoa with Santa at Lewis Tompkins Hose Co. #1. According to Southern Dutchess News, the event is in honor of Carmen Viruet-Senato, co-founder of LHL. The event is in memory of Leticia Dos Santos. Richard Senato, founder of LHL, said Leticia was 16 years old when she passed from Stage 4 bone cancer. She created the Cookies and Cocoa event with Senato and Viruet-Senato five years ago.
Location Drop-Off: 13 South Ave., Beacon, NY
Deadline: Donation deadline is Friday, December 7.
Event for any child to receive a free toy is Saturday, December 15 from 10 am to 1 pm. All are invited.
Love Holds Life helps children and their families financially battling cancer, on a national level from their offices located in New York's Hudson Valley region. Love Holds Life provides financial support for their medical treatments and expenses not covered by insurance. LHL’s ultimate mission is to ensure children with love and life. Their financial program consists of funding a child’s medical deductible, co-payment, co-insurance and prescriptions, along with travel reimbursement to and from treatment. Donations received from individuals, foundations, corporations and other local organizations help to fund each child and their family.
NOTE: To be a drop-off location for Love Holds Life, please contact their office at (845) 592-4544

GUARDIAN SELF-STORAGE

Location Drop-Off: 14 collection locations in Ulster, Dutchess, and Orange counties
Deadline: November 1-December 13
Donations will go towards Toys For Tots.

As we hear of more Toy Drive Collections, we will update this list. Keep refreshing the page!

How to Submit

If you are running a toy drive, please email details in the format matching the above listings to editorial@alittlebeaconblog.com. Thanks!

When Beacon Pilates opened 13 years ago in a second-floor studio above Main Street, it was met with skepticism and conviction that no one would want to try this newfangled form of exercise. That's how most successful businesses are met at first, actually, in Beacon. It's possible that new-business reception is like this all over the world, but particularly in Beacon, when something fresh launches, it is usually met with doubters. Before you know it, a cult following has formed around it. Remember the howls about the 20-minute wait for the hand-fixed donuts at Glazed (and it's not 20 minutes, BTW), or the $8.50 bacon and egg breakfast sandwich at Stock Up that launched 1,000 Facebook comments? Or the upscale glasses store that everyone thought would never work? The successful Luxe Optique now has superfans from around the region (like this shop owner from Cold Spring) coming in to seize the latest designs.

So too with Beacon Pilates. A fixture in Beacon for people who needed to get firm, strong, and toned, Beacon Pilates faced a major business change when they needed to move from its original location. The thing about change is, it often produces unexpected positive results - the Silver Lining, if you will. Beacon Pilates' owner, Juliet Harvey, reached out to A Little Beacon Blog to advertise the studio's change in our Classes for Adults Guide program, but the change is so much more than a simple location swap. So we reached out to Juliet to see if she had found a Silver Lining, and it turns out, there were several. This is the beauty of owning and running a small business. Especially one in Beacon, which is filled with so many talented people.

ALBB:
Sometimes a change like this produces unexpected results. What can you tell us?

Juliet Harvey, Owner of Beacon Pilates:
I loved my old space. It was almost more like my home than my house! But yes, there have been many silver linings.

First and foremost, being so incredibly overwhelmed with just how much my husband, Luc, and his business partner, Jason Hughes, and their employees at LNJ Tech Services did for me.

ALBB: So that our readers can piece everyone together - Luc and Jason own the white building on Hanna Lane that is famous in its own right, but got famous again after hanging the welcome sign. Jason is married to Ella's Bellas' owner Carley, and LNJ Tech Services also did custom design work at Ella's Bellas, including making the really cool whisk-inspired light fixtures. It's fun to know who is behind some of these visual touches that have come to define Beacon.

Juliet Harvey, Owner of Beacon Pilates:
Yes, exactly. The list that they helped me with was enormous, but basically, while I was going through an emotional crisis, they were at my space every day making sure it was going to be a beautiful and inviting studio. Luc was helping to make every single decision in his creative, technical, calm and detail-oriented way. I was completely supported and taken care of by him.

Secondly, and to my shock, all of my clients have told me they like the new space better! The space is so open and light-filled and beautiful. Also, as everyone knows in Beacon, the parking situation is not getting any better. So they LOVE the parking lot. My clients never burdened me with their parking problems at my old space. But now that I'm at the new space, all their stories are coming out and they are so happy not to have the Main Street parking worry.

ALBB: Thank you for sharing, Juliet!

* * *

So guys, just so you know, the winter is the most dreaded part of the year for businesses in Beacon. It snows. Things close. Everyone gets sick. It's awful. But Beacon Pilates is prevailing and bucking the system by having their Grand Re-Opening Party this weekend - Valentine's Weekend - and you can show them some love by going. It's from 5 to 8 pm on Saturday (yes, it's Beacon's Second Saturday).

Juliet is keeping super busy: Not only is she hosting Beacon Pilates' grand re-opening, but as co-president of the South Avenue PTA, Juliet is supporting South Avenue's first parent/kid dance, aka the Small Tall Ball, the Friday night before her Pilates party. And if that's not enough, her grand re-opening party will even include a donation dedication. It's the kickoff for “Goods for Good,” a weeklong sporting goods drive for The Children’s Home of Poughkeepsie, which is dedicated to providing a safe and nurturing environment to improve the lives of and empower at-risk children and families in the Hudson Valley and surrounding communities.

Donations of newly purchased indoor or outdoor sporting goods can be brought to Beacon Pilates on Second Saturday, February 10, or dropped off during business hours the following week. Equipment needed includes basketballs, volleyballs, soccer balls, skateboards, roller skates, lawn games, double-dutch jump ropes, wooden baseball bats, and tennis balls, as well as safety equipment like helmets and pads.

See you at the party!