Sandra A. Hough walked to her mailbox last week and dropped in a $25 check for the Sidney F. Smith Toy Fund.

That's not an unusual act this time of year for local residents, many of whom like to help out with the Gazette-sponsored Toy Fund that distributes vouchers to families in need around the holidays. But Hough's mailbox is in Florida.

"I've been doing it every year," Hough said this week in a telephone interview from her home in Leesburg, Fla., where she was enjoying a humid 78-degree day. "Everybody needs help. They need help all over this country."

Hough and her husband, Ralph Hough Jr., lived in Hatfield until 1988, when they moved to Vermont. From there they moved to Florida for retirement.

But the Houghs still feel a strong pull to Hampshire County. They read the Gazette online every day, she said. They visited in July for their 50th class reunion at Smith Academy in Hatfield, and they donate every year to the Toy Fund, now in its 77th year of helping local families provide presents for their children around the holidays.

Hough, a former supervisor with the Department of Veterans Affairs in Leeds, said she and her husband usually donate in memory of their respective parents and her sibling, all of whom have passed away.

Hough's father was a custodian in the Hatfield school system.

"He just loved children," she said.

Hough doesn't miss winters in the Valley, but she said she does miss some of the locally grown vegetables.

"They don't get the good ones here," she said.

The Houghs are among a number of Valley "expats" who donate to the Toy Fund from afar.

Daniel Ahearn sent along $50 late last month from his home in Austin, Texas.

Ahearn, who now works in the restaurant business in Austin, grew up in Northampton.

"You want to make sure you always try to give back wherever you can," Ahearn said. "Northampton was always such a special part of my life."

Ahearn has been in Texas since 1998 and now lives with his wife, whom he met there, and his two young daughters. He still has many relatives in the area, including his brother, Michael, who runs Ahearn Funeral Home in Northampton.

Ahearn joked that Austin residents were "in a panic" Thursday because they were expecting up to an inch of snow the following day.

Ahearn said he started donating to the Toy Fund several years ago after relatives sent him a card stating that they had donated in his daughters' honor.

He donated this year in memory of his grandparents, Nellie and Michael J. Ahearn Sr., who lived in Leeds.

Today's donors

Susan Knapp#$20

In memory of our son, Nicholas O'Hara Edwards, named in honor of St. Nicholas, Katie & Jonathan Edwards#$100

In honor of Kayla's first Christmas, Lorraine Weimann#$10

In memory of Roland Rubeck and Robert Pollard, Carol & Wally Krumpholz#$25

We miss you Peggy Madsen, Nana & Jadzu Stolarski, Wally & Carol Ann Krumpholz & family#$50

Kevin Roy#$100

In loving memory of Grandma Roz Maginnis, Chris, Molly & Keegan, Molly Butler#$20

For the kids from a friend#$50

Mike and Jane Cahill#$50

Previous Total#$3,934

Today's Total#$425

Year-To-Date#$4,359