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Community Corner

Train Collectors Keep the Fun in Fundraiser

Enthusiasts gather to check out model trains and donate to Freehold Area Open Door.

On Sunday at the Freehold Knights of Columbus, toy train collectors from across New Jersey gathered to help support the Freehold Open Door Food Pantry. Dozens of spectators contributed either small cash donations or canned food and viewed the miniature trains circling around tables and floors all over the main room of the Knights of Columbus hall.

This is the fourth year that the Toy Trains in Action Food Drive for Freehold Open Door has been held, and it just keeps getting bigger and better each time, according to Joe Mania, one of the organizers of the event.

“My wife regularly donates food to the Open Door, and she called me one time and it had just broken her heart she saw an older man waiting in line just for a loaf of bread,” Mania said.

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“I thought, there has got to be something we can do,” Mania continued. “About an hour later, I called her back and said maybe if we did something with the trains it can draw people. We won’t charge people we’ll just ask for a donation.”

While the totals for Sunday’s event haven’t been tallied yet, last year's gathered about $3,000 and 2,200 pounds of food. That total topped their own record from the previous year as the largest independent single day fundraiser donation to Open Door.

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The event has grown from being just a display of Mania's and a few of his close collector friend’s models to include trains from many prominent collectors and organizations from the area. The Ocean County Model Railroad Society set up a table and The Hobby Shop in Aberdeen donated a Lionel Train Set, which will be bid on as a silent auction for the charity. Local Cub Scouts were on hand to help collect the food donations.

The trains were impressive, ranging from a Coors Light Silver Bullet train with real steam coming out and “freezers” that looked packed with beer, to a full city setup complete with a gas station. Young and old alike marveled at the models as they sped their way around their miniature tracks.

“It’s gone well enough that I definitely anticipate doing it again next year,” Mania said.

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