Lowell Police and members of the Lowell Regional Transit Authority and ATU Local 1578 — General Manager George Anastas, Operations Manager Dawn Marvin, and ATU Local 1578 President Lisa Lipomi — with gifts the LRTA and union contributed to the Department’s eighth annual toy drive. (Courtesy Lowell Police Department) 
Just some of the toys from this the eighth annual Lowell Police Holiday Toy Drive are stacked on desks in the Department’s Emergency Operations Center prior to sorting. (Courtesy Lowell Police Department) 
Students from the Middlesex Community College Criminal and Social Justice Program, Evan Maninos, Brad Walk, and Yarisbel Tejeda, hold toys donated to the toy drive by members of the MCC community. (Courtesy Lowell Police Department) 
From left, Aiden Lavoie and Thomas Woodlock from the Lowell High School Varsity Hockey team deliver gifts to the eighth annual Lowell Police Holiday Toy Drive. (Courtesy Lowell Police Department) 
Team members from United Dental of Lowell deliver toys to the police station for the 8th annual Lowell Police Holiday Toy Drive. (Courtesy Lowell Police Department) 
From left, Middlesex Community College Criminal and Social Justice students Yarisbel Tejeda and Brad Walk stand with Officer Corey Erickson, Deputy Superintendent Mark LeBlanc, and MCC Criminal and Social Justice Department Head Professor Heloisa DaCunha. (Courtesy Lowell Police Department) 
MassHire Young Adult Career Center Manager Heather Donovan, center, stands with officers as she donates toys collected by MassHire employees to the 8th annual Lowell Police Holiday Toy Drive. (Courtesy Lowell Police Department)
LOWELL — Acting Superintendent Barry Golner is pleased to report that the Lowell Police Department and generous community partners gathered more than 1,000 toys and gifts for children as part of the Department’s eighth annual Holiday Toy Drive.
New, unused and unwrapped toys and gifts donated by individual donors and community partners include clothing, makeup, action figures, gift cards, books, coloring books, dinosaurs, craft supplies, dolls, stuffed animals, puzzles, board games, fidget toys, sports equipment, bicycles and more.
Also among the more than 1,000 toys distributed were well over 200 Barbie toys that were donated by members of the Middlesex District Attorney’s Office and Lowell Police Department in memory of Shana Morris, a lifelong Lowell resident and DA’s office employee who passed away on Nov. 23. Shana worked closely with Lowell Police due to her role at the DA’s office, and had donated hundreds of Barbie toys to the toy drive over the years. Upon her passing, her former colleagues donated the toys in her honor.
The toys and gifts were distributed directly to Lowell children in need by Lowell Public Schools social workers and Brigid’s Crossing, a shelter for teenage mothers in Lowell. The Lowell Police Department also contributed toys and gifts to the Department of Children and Families in Lowell this year in an effort to assist families there as well.
“The Lowell community is compassionate and giving, and our annual Toy Drive is one of many events that makes this so clear,” said Interim Superintendent Golner. “I want to thank the officers and staff of the Lowell Police Department for their support, and I want to thank all of the community groups and organizations from Lowell who supported our efforts this year. In particular, we are grateful to the energetic and caring students from Middlesex Community College’s Criminal and Social Justice Program, who worked on a service learning project to make the generosity of the MCC community a part of our toy drive.”
Interim Superintendent Golner recognizes the following: Lowell Police Department employees, individual donors and community partners at the Middlesex Community College Criminal and Social Justice Department, Lowell Regional Transit Authority and LRTA ATU Local 1578, the Lowell High School Hockey Team, the Lowell Police Superior Officer’s Union, MassHire and United Dental of Lowell.
For more information on Brigid’s Crossing, click here.