Jennifer Sneider, owner of J‑Cuts located at 505 Howe Avenue, downtown Shelton, has begun to collect stuffed monkeys for Valentine’s Day. Donations can be dropped off from January 1st through February 8th.
Additional drop off locations include Minuteman Press, 427 Howe Avenue, Suite 2 and the Greater Valley Chamber of Commerce, 10 Progress Drive, 2nd Floor, both of Shelton. Topside Cafe, 333 Boston Post Road, Milford is also collecting again this year.
For health and safety reasons, stuffed monkeys must be brand new preferably with tags.
During the last drive, J‑Cuts, along with Topside Café in Milford, Eileen Henri’s Keith Urban “Monkeyville” members and Facebook fans and Joshua Sussan’s Troop 1 Milford Boy Scouts helped spread monkey love to children in need, abused & 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. Children of Connecticut Army National Guard soldiers deployed during the Valentine holiday also received stuffed monkeys.
The 6th Annnual Monkey Love Valentine Drive, held in 2012, collected and distributed 907 stuffed monkeys to the A.C.T./Spooner House Homeless Shelter, Department of Family & Children’s Aid Shelton & Danbury Safe Homes, the Shelton Police Department, Bridgeport Hospital, Griffin Hospital, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, Casey Family Services, Covenant to Care for Children and the Lower Naugatuck Valley Boys & Girls Club.
Unfortunately, both Casey Family Services and the Department of Family & Children’s Aid/Shelton Safe Home location closed their doors in 2012.
The 7th Annual drive will also benefit children serviced by the Ansonia and Milford Boys & Girls Clubs.
This year, in addition to collecting for children in need serviced by local organizations, the coordinators would like to offer some monkey love to the children of Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. They are hoping for a very successful collection this year so they can continue to spread the monkey love to as many children in need as possible.
Members of country singer Keith Urban’s online community, “Monkeyville” and his Facebook fans from all over the world, have contributed to the drive by mailing stuffed monkeys to Derby resident and Monkeyville member, Eileen Henri. They have participated in this drive since the beginning. In 2012, they mailed stuffed monkeys from as far as Canada, Spain, England, Australia and Germany. Monkeys were also sent in from 30 states. A total of 707 stuffed monkeys were collected by this group.
Joshua Sussan, a J‑Cuts customer and Shelton resident, decided to help out by leading Troop 1 of the Milford Boy Scouts in their own community drive. They collected 36 stuffed monkeys.
Topside Café in Milford holds an annual “Monkey Love Sunday” on the Sunday before Superbowl. For 2013, the celebration will take place on Sunday, January 27th from 1 pm to 5 pm. Topside Cafe is located at 333 Boston Post Road. Everyone is invited to attend for food, fun and raffles. The “cover charge” is at least one new stuffed monkey. Local Milford and Shelton Pubs are also encouraged to join in by holding a “Monkey Love Sunday” event of their own.
Sneider uses her business as the the main collection and drop off location. She wanted to help out by taking this drive over from the former owners of Luther’s Garage automotive repair business, which was previously located around the corner from her business.
“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. We hope to have an even more successful drive this time so we can share the monkeys with the children of Sandy Hook Elementary.”
For more information, call J‑Cuts at 203 – 924-4107.
