Departmental 56'ers are singles, couples and families of all ages who enjoy the company of fellow village enthusiasts. While we primarily discuss what's going on with our village displays, sharing ideas and new finds, it's not unusual to hear members discussing other items they collect such as Byers Choice, Beanie Babies, Boyd's Bears, Snowbabies and many others. Some of our members collect multiple villages, while others concentrate on a single village. Chances are, whatever you are collecting you'll find others with similar interests.
Charity Donations
As a result of raffles held at our Annual Holiday Party, the club selects a local charity as the recipient. Past donations have beem made to the "Helping Hands Fund" run by the Brockton Enterprise, the "Neediest Families Fund" administered by the New Bedford Standard Times, (both funds which help buy Christmas Gifts for needy local children) an fire-ravaged orphanage for abused girls in Freetown, My Brother's Keeper in Brockton. In 2001, this picture shows our Treasurer Glenn, Charity Committee Chairwoman Donna and Vice-President Donna present a check to Sister Maureen of the Rose Hawthorne Lathrop Home, a cancer center located in Fall River, MA.
An ongoing project for the club is the TABS and TOILETRIES collections at each meeting. Members are asked to save the pop tabs from beverage cans (the only part of the can that is pure aluminum)for the Ronald McDonald House of Springfield (the Boston house does not collect tabs and we have several members in our club in Western MA). Removing the tab does not affect the returning of the cans for the deposit. The house sells these by weight and use the money to help fund their operations. In this photo, Glenn and Donna present a small portion of the 50 POUNDS of tabs that our club members have collected so far. We also collect toiletries (such as what you are given as a hotel guest) for area shelters.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!
Our club celebrated its 5th birthday at our March 2001 meeting held in Easton. Our club's birthday cake was created by one of our talented members, Lorraine. In addition to our usual raffles, we also raffled off the exclusive Dicken's Gold Dome Royal Observatory. This limited edition piece was given to the club by The Village Chronicle as a result of a subscription contest held by the magazine last spring. The raffle tickets were available only to members and Kim was the lucky winner. Boy was she excited!
Released in May 2002, our newest pin features Boston's own Fenway Park. Our Mental Man logo is perched atop the building holding the American flag. The flag has 3 red lights that blink. Show your patriotism as well as your love of Department 56 collectibles! The pin is battery operated. The cost is $10 (or $11 with postage). Anyone can order by sending your check to the club at:
PO Box 835, Lakeville, MA 02347!
Contact
Us at Mental56er@aol.com