MALONE — On Monday afternoon members of the Malone Police Benevolent Association stopped by an area business to drop off gifts for community members.
The local police officers are one of the groups working with Village Furniture and Design, off of Route 11, on a gift-giving campaign for area children and senior citizens.
Ann Marie Trombley of Village Furniture and Design said children create wish lists which officers shop for with gifts personalized for each child.
Trombley said she appreciates the officers and all those who take time to help out with the gift-giving effort each year.
“We make a big deal about it because we don’t think there is enough positive, sometimes out there,” Trombley said.
According to village Police Chief William T. Andre, the police benevolent association has purchased gifts for the effort for the last several years.
“PBA members go out and make some holiday purchases for anywhere from 10 to 15 kids, this year I think we did 12,” Andre told the Telegram, “We drop the gifts off with Ann Marie up at Village Furniture and they take it from there.”
Andre said the children officers shop for are a range of different ages.
“Sometimes, in the past, we have had all the way down to infants where we are getting a bunch of baby clothes and little toys for them,” he said, adding Officer Cole Fancher, the treasurer of the police benevolent association helps to direct shopping efforts.
“This year it was me, Fancher, Nicholas Hebert, Freddy Garland helped out Branden Fleury, pretty much everyone played some role,” Andre said, “Bill (Martin) brought some gifts up this morning.”
Andre said participating in the gift-giving campaign is one way for the police’s benevolent association to give back to the community.
“The PBA does a lot of charitable work to give back to the community,” he said, “Obviously we get a great deal of support from community members and we try to give back whenever we can. We raise funds through the year and we give it all back to the community one way or another.”
Andre said the association has also sponsored youth sports teams, buys Halloween Candy to hand out at the police station and give out handouts to students at career fairs, adding in the past funds have been used to buy Thanksgiving dinners for community members.
The big annual fundraiser for Malone’s PBA is an annual bowling tournament at Lucky Strike Lanes, according to Andre.
According to Trombley, correction officers at Franklin Correctional Facility and the Malone Elks Lodge also contribute to the annual gift-giving effort and said in the run up to Christmas bicycles, toys and other donated gifts have piled up around the store.
Trombley said each year the ladies of the Elks Lodge donate warm blankets and hygiene products, with the lodge also contributing a number of bike helmets this year. She said all of the gifts that are gathered during the gift-giving campaign go to Catholic Charities/Christmas Angels to be disbursed, adding she likes to continue the campaign because she sees it as a way to give back.
“I am a strong believer that if you are a part of the community, and you can that you should try and give back,” Trombley said, “If everybody does a little bit it adds up.”
Trombley said Jamie Pellerin, of Franklin Correctional Facility, has helped with the annual gift-giving campaign since it started in 2018.
In addition to the gifts donated for kids, items are also collected for local seniors with contributions also made to the Humane Society in Potsdam, according to Trombley.
Community members also purchase gifts for the effort, according to Trombley, who said this year a couple local residents bought bicycles for children.
“You have this group of people that year after year they bring happiness to all of these homes, they don’t know them and they’ll never meet them,” she said, “They use their own money and they shop for children it’s pure heart.”
All of the gifts that are gathered during the gift-giving campaign at Village Furniture and Design go to Catholic Charities/Christmas Angels to be disbursed, according to Ann Marie Trombley. Alexander Violo/Malone Telegram
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