Approximately 3,300 children in the greater Asbury Park area who may not have had any gifts this holiday season will now have something to enjoy, thanks to the city’s annual toy drive in which the LGBTQ community played a part. Those children’s parents or caregivers who signed up for assistance from the drive’s lead organization, Community Karma, can pick up the gifts this Saturday (Dec. 20) at the former Walgreens, which is now permanently closed, at 901 Main St. in Asbury Park.
“We’ve had a great result,” said Santa Claus, who, despite his busy schedule this time of year, came to the popular LGBTQ bar Georgies on Dec. 14 for a fundraiser held to benefit the drive. The rest of the year, Santa goes by the name Barry Bowling of Wall Township. “The Asbury people have been great, so we just continue to give,” Santa said.
Georgies, located at 810 Fifth Ave. in Asbury Park, started its own toy drive when George Lister opened the bar in 1999, and Bowling has donned his red suit for it each year since the beginning. Other businesses and nonprofit organizations throughout the city were making similar efforts to help provide essential items and toys for families less fortunate than others, and over time, those efforts grew into a partnership that Community Karma has been coordinating since 2022.
New Jersey native Celia Cattani of Asbury Park started Community Karma with friends of hers in 2005 when she was living in San Francisco. Cattani moved back to Jersey in 2015 and took the reins of the drive from Connie Breech when she decided to step down.
“This is my retirement dream,” Cattani said while she was helping to set up for the fundraiser at Georgies. “So I couldn’t be happier that Asbury is so supportive of it.”
This year, 1,100 families registered for assistance on Community Karma’s website, communitykarma.org, and there were 200 families on the waiting list as of Dec. 14. That amounts to about 3,300 children from newborns to 18-year-olds, Cattani estimated.
Since around Thanksgiving, donation boxes have been set up at businesses and other locations throughout the city. Events in addition to Georgies’ fundraiser, which included a drag show and a buffet, have also taken place.
In addition to Georgies, other businesses and organizations that have been helping out in some way or that have hosted events include the Asbury Book Cooperative, Asbury Park Little League, Bond Street Bar, The Church of Philadelphia – Asbury Park, CPC Integrated Health, Deal Lake Bar + Co., the Jersey Shore Arts Center, Johnny Mac’s, Kim Marie’s, Kiwanis Club of Asbury Park, Melting Trends, Mercy Center, St. Stephen AME Zion Church, and The Center in Asbury Park.
Joe Cole, the general manager at Georgies, explained that a month after Lister opened the bar on November 26 years ago, he decided to do something good for the children of Asbury Park. “In December (1999), he was like, ‘Let’s wrap some gifts and give them out to the kids in Asbury,’ and literally, the whole bar was filled with presents,” Cole said.
The following year, Cole continued, Breech took over and coordinated the effort until Community Karma began doing so. “It’s all about the community,” Cole said.
Among the drag performers at the fundraiser was Candi Kane. She explained that because of the drive, families that might have had to redirect their money toward food, rent, or other essentials can now give their children a nice Christmas.
“It gives me the opportunity to make a difference in somebody’s life,” Kane said. “And right now, the need for mercy is great.”
