Camp concludes with toy donation
Helping people out feels good so of course you should have some fun while doing it.

JEFF GRANIT staff Youngsters from the Ivy League Day Camp, Manalapan, (l-r) Nick Senuto, 9, Heather Gursky, 9 and Danielle Seymour, 10, carry out some of the toys that children at the camp collected and donated to VFW posts in Freehold and Red Bank and to the Ronald McDonald House, Long Branch.

Having fun at a carnival named Toyland was the aim of the last day's celebration for the campers and friends, family and parents of children who attended the Ivy League Day Camp, Gordons Corner Road, Manalapan, this summer.

Aug. 17 was the final day of the 2007 camp season and it was the day the children and everyone else got to hand over the toys and baby items they had collected for two organizations.

According to Marissa Leiser, one of the camp's directors, the youngsters enjoyed a carnival and donated toys they had collected to Jane W. Snyder, who was representing Veterans of Foreign Wars posts from Red Bank and Freehold, and to Frank Fischer, vice chairman of the Ronald Mc- Donald House, Long Branch, who was on hand to collect the baby items being donated to his organization.

Leiser said each week of the eight-week camp had a theme. She said the final week was Toy Week and that was when the youngsters, their parents and others "gave us a great turnout," referring to the number of new toys and baby items that were collected at the camp for donation to each organization.

She said the success of the toy drive was inspiring not only to the staff, but also to the campers who were rewarded with a day of fun and a sense of pride at what they had accomplished.

Leiser said the project was gratifying for all involved and something the camp directors would like to do again.

- Kathy Baratta