On Monday, the Eric Medeiros Memorial Foundation held its first Toys for Tots Toy Drive.

The evening’s snowfall did not stop members of the community from attending and gathering more than 1,000 toys for local children. Held at the St. Mary’s Feast Society, the event featured plenty of vendors, food, beverages and holiday cheer.

“I have always wanted to do a toy drive and decided only about a month ago to give it shot,” said Anna Casador-Saccoccio, president and founder of the Eric Medeiros Memorial Foundation. “I sat down, made a list, called my helper elves, and here we are. We are now excited to start planning for next year, too.”

The evening was complete with a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, as well as music.

“We were proud and honored to have Marines Logan Handson and Rick Jones spend the evening with us also. They had to make a couple of trips to take all the toys,” Casador-Saccoccio said.

Matt Volpi, president of the St Mary’s Feast Society, donated food for everyone to enjoy. Homemade cookies were made and donated by Debbie Nardolillo Herbert.

The Demo Team from Premiere Martial Arts came out and performed to the delight of those in attendance. Throughout the evening, everyone mingled and some did some shopping with the vendors.

“I had no idea how many toys we would collect. We had boxes out at different locations collecting for us also,” Casador-Saccoccio said.

She added: “I would like to thank Michelle and Lydia from Roots Salon in Cranston, Lynn Houston Page of Fabubus LLC, St Mary’s Feast Society, Nadine and Mike at The Party Store Outlet in Coventry, KAMCO Supply of Cranston, and Jaclynn Kate Salon in East Greenwich for letting us bring in toy boxes to be filled.” She also thanked Antonio’s Trattoria in Cranston for donating gift certificates for raffles.

Ongoing throughout the evening was a 50/50 raffle, and the person who bought the most tickets won a “Rake in the Dough” rake covered in lottery tickets.

One of the highlights of the evening was the Ugly Holiday Sweater Contest. The winners were father and son Matt and Ben Adams with their light-up matching sweaters.

“It was great having some sister queens come out and help support my event also,” said Casador-Saccoccio,who is the reigning Ms. Knightsville 2020. Among the titleholders were Jonet Nichelle, Miss Rhode Island USA; Allegra Graziano, Miss Italia Rhode Island; and Tina Pedersen, Elite Rhode Island AWOS.

Casador is the Mrs. Knightsville RI 2020, 2019 National Classic American Woman of Service and 2019 Ms. Rhode Island New England States.