EASTHAMPTON — When Linda Struthers lost her daughter in 1986, she wanted a way to keep her memory alive. Donating to the Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund was one way she did that.
Struthers has been donating to the toy fund for more than three decades in memory of her daughter, Tammy Patryn, who died in a car crash.
“My daughter loved Christmas. She was only 23 when she passed,” Struthers, of Easthampton, said. “I thought it was a way to make sure that other children had gifts and also to honor my daughter’s name — to keep her name alive.”
Patryn love wrapping gifts and baking cookies during the holiday season.
“She was a girl that loved Christmas and everything about it. She made Christmas brighter,” Struthers said. “She brought out the best in Christmas.”
Struthers recalled baking cookies with her daughter. “The ones that we really made was the spritz cookies with a cookie press. I used my grandmother’s cookie press.” Butter dough goes into the press, and the press creates uniformly shaped cookies.
It is those memories of her daughter that have motivated Struthers to give to the Toy Fund for more than 30 years.
“I believe that every child should have something under the tree and there’s many children that don’t,” she said.
Named after a former business manager at the Gazette, the toy fund began in 1933 to help families in need during the Depression. Today, the fund distributes vouchers worth $40 to families for each child from age 1 to 14. Eligible families must live in any Hampshire County community except Ware, in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury, and Leverett, and in Holyoke in Hampden County.
18 Degrees Family Services for Western Massachusetts at 59 Interstate Drive in West Springfield verifies families’ eligibility and the Gazette covers costs associated with the drive, freeing all donations to fund the vouchers.
The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St., Northampton; Blue Marble/Little Blue, 150 Main St., Level 1, Northampton: Deals & Steals, 1 Pearl St., Northampton; High Five Books, 141 N. Main St., Florence; The Toy Box, 201 N. Pleasant St., Amherst; Once Upon A Child,1458 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, 227 Russell St., Hadley; Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St., Village Commons, South Hadley; The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 W. Bay Road, Amherst; World Eye Bookshop & Magical Child Toy Store, 134 Main St., Greenfield; Holyoke Sporting Goods Co., 1584 Dwight St. #1, Holyoke.
Donations to the Toy Fund may be mailed to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, P.O. Box 299, Northampton, MA, 01061, or made through Gazettenet at www.gazettenet.com. Checks should be made payable to the Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund.
Greta Jochem can be reached at gjochem@gazettenet.com.