MVH goes extra mile for Toys for Tots
Monongahela Valley Hospital’s Toys for Tots program coordinators Doug Prentice, left, and John Bogdan pose with Mon Valley Leathernecks Toys for Tots program coordinator Wally Fronzaglio behind some of the toys assembled by MVH management.
Monongahela Valley Hospital leaders have been assembling toys in a Santa’s workshop-style gathering every year for the last seven years and donating them to the local Toys For Tots Program to help children in the Mon Valley. Shown are Trina Curcio, director of care and quality management for Vale-U-Health; Danielle Soles, RN; Patty Fife, radiology supervisor; and John Bogdan, RN, BSN, nurse manager of the Behavioral Health and EEG departments.
This Christmas will be much brighter for many children in the Mon Valley, thanks to the generosity of the staff at Monongahela Valley Hospital.
MVH employees in every department have collected new, unwrapped gifts for the mid-Mon Valley Toys for Tots program since it began in 1986, and the collection boxes throughout the hospital campus are filling up.
In addition, hospital leaders have been assembling toys in a Santa’s workshop-style atmosphere every year for the last seven years.
”I know our staff members look forward to the toy assembly and toy drive because they know how important it is to help children from the communities we serve every day at MVH,” said John Bogdan, nurse manager of the Behavioral Health and EEG departments and Toys for Tots co-coordinator at MVH.
Wally Fronzaglio of Donora, Toys for Tots program coordinator, attended this year’s recent toy assembly, which was held in the hospital’s Anthony M. Lombardi Education Conference Center.
Fronzaglio accepted the assembled toys on behalf of the Mon Valley Leathernecks, a group of more than 160 former Marines that “does all the legwork” for the local Toys for Tots program. The Leathernecks formed in 1986 to run a local collection program.
Fronzaglio said he is thrilled with the hospital’s participation, and that it really makes a difference.
He said the hospital staff really “stepped up” last year to make sure every child had gifts because in 2012, the program did not have enough toys for everyone.
”Plus, last year, three days before Christmas, a storm flooded the basement of the Mon Valley Salvation Army, ruining more than $3,000 worth of their toy donations,” he said. “We had enough – three truckloads in fact – that we were able to replace the toys they lost and make the kids all happy.”
Fronzaglio said the Leathernecks also accept cash donations and then purchase additional toys from stores in the Mon Valley. Checks can be made payable to “Toys for Tots” and sent to: Wally Fronzaglio/Toys for Tots, 204 Brokaw Ave., Donora, PA 15033, by Dec. 15. Checks received after that date will be used for the 2015 drive.
For more information about the local program, call Fronzaglio after 5 p.m. at 724-379-8888.