BOSTON (WHDH) – Magic fills the air, toys are stacked high and the Christmas spirit is all around. It’s the annual Menino toy drive in honor of Boston’s late Mayor Thomas Menino at Dorchester’s Teen Center at St. Peter.
“The children in this community need some sort of belonging and some place to go that feels like home,” Samantha Menimo said.
Samantha Menino helps runs the event, she remembers her grandfather’s love of giving at Christmas time.
“We would drive the streets and he had toys in the back and he’d say, hey you, you, you, come here!” Menimo said. “And point at them and yell at them and hand out toys.”
City leaders and community members were thrilled to see the joy in this room filled with 2,000 toys and 300 families.
“I hope that it fills everyone with hope and a sense of commitment and solidarity for one another,” Archbishop Richard Henning said.
Volunteers bustled around, handing out toys and making sure every child embraced the Christmas spirit.
“Everyone’s dollar is being stretched for food or housing or the heat or medication for someone in the family, and to know there’s a little extra cushion or extra breathing room, it means the world,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said.
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