1,500 Monkey Love Valentines Collected

The Seventh Annual Monkey Love Valentine drive shaped up to be one of the most successful collections ever! 

More than 1,500 stuffed monkeys were collected by various groups and companies in the area. 

Derby resident Eileen Henri, a member of Keith Urban’s online community, the Ville,” coordinated a collection again this year. 

Plush monkeys were mailed in from all over the world including Australia, Canada and Spain as well as 32 states within the U.S.!

Keith Urban’s fans collected over 1,160 monkeys! Their goal was to collect more than last year, which netted 719. 

With the generous support and kindness of Keith Urban’s fans, they went way beyond their goal and continued to make this drive a global effort.

Jennifer Sneider, owner of J‑Cuts located at 505 Howe Ave. in Shelton, is amazed at the outpouring of kindness from the community and the Keith Urban Ville” fan club and Facebook fans. 

Especially with the way our economy has been lately,” says Sneider. I didn’t expect to collect so many monkeys.”

Additional collection locations included Huntington Family Dental Group of 534 Shelton Avenue, Minuteman Press of 427 Howe Ave., Suite 2 and the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, 10 Progress Drive, 2nd Floor, all of Shelton. 

The Shelton Lion’s Club held their own collection. Because they will be putting together Easter food and candy baskets for less fortunate families in Shelton, the monkeys were donated right back to their organization to include in these baskets. 

Minuteman Press donated posters for the collection again this year. 

Haynes Materials, Inc., headquartered in Seymour, held their own collection toward the end of January. 

With locations in Seymour, Oxford, Naugatuck, Torrington and Deep River, they quickly collected more than 100 monkeys. 

Ruth Rogers, owner of Topside Cafe, 333 Boston Post Road, Milford, along with Mary Finnegan and Lenny Marconi, held their Third Annual Monkey Love Sunday on Jan. 27. 

They collected about 50 stuffed monkeys this year. They hold a Monkey Love Sunday celebration each year on the Sunday before Superbowl.

This annual community event benefits abused and neglected children, impoverished, adopted and sick children, and frightened children involved in police calls, as well as children who may feel a little left out when a younger sibling is born and children treated for cancer or other illnesses at local hospitals. 

The Sixth Annual Monkey Love Valentine Drive, held in 2012, collected and distributed 907 stuffed monkeys to area organizations who service children in need. 

The drive held this year will benefit children serviced by the Ansonia, Milford and Lower Naugatuck Valley (Shelton) Boys & Girls Clubs, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital in New Haven, Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital at Bridgeport Hospital Campus, TEAM, Inc. in Derby and Ansonia, BHcare’s Center for Domestic Violence Services in Ansonia, the Seymour Police Department, Griffin Hospital of Derby and Sunnyside School in Shelton. 

Although a representative of the children who attended Sandy Hook Elementary School mentioned they could not accept donations because they still have a warehouse full, an extra 100 stuffed monkeys were given to Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital in honor of the children and 26 monkeys were wrapped and given out with a Valentine card as a surprise to various children in the Newtown area. 

This is my third year doing it,” says Sneider. We have so much fun. My customers get involved and my teenage daughter and her friends join in to help by decorating the barber shop in anticipation of a whole bunch of monkeys moving in for a little while,” according to Sneider. It is an amazing feeling to know each and every one of these monkeys will find comfort in the arms of a child in need and the children will find comfort in these monkeys.” 

For information on participating in this drive next year, call J‑Cuts at 203 – 924-4107.

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