NORTHAMPTON — Bryan Burke, second generation owner of Burke Chevrolet on North King Street in Northampton, has continued a more than 30-year holiday tradition set by his father which entails employees pooling money together for the Sydney F. Smith Toy Fund — donated in memory of the dealership’s first bookkeeper.

When the dealership opened in 1970 on lower King Street (now Foster Farrar True Value hardware after moving to King Street in 1985), Steve Stevens was hired as the bookkeeper, and would keep the position until his retirement in 1993. Bryan Burke’s father Jim, who now lives in Florida, remembers Stevens as “the bookkeeper that was like a partner” and “one of those people who didn’t have any enemies — except on the golf course.” Jim Burke also remembers Stevens as a one lunged smoker who kept the cigarette business in operation.

As an avid golfer and member of the Northampton Country Club, Stevens in his lifetime accomplished four holes-in-one. His adult life was spent in Florence with his wife Maevis after being born in Vermont, where he died on a fishing trip less than a year after retiring.

After his death, the dealership made the decision to donate in his memory.

“It’s tough he wasn’t able to enjoy more of a retirement,” said Bryan Burke, adding that the yearly contribution to the Sydney F. Smith Toy Fund is what keeps his memory alive. Stevens did not have any personal connection to the fund himself, but it has been consistently and traditionally chosen by the dealership because of the fund’s proximate impact in the community, Burke said.

“I know there is Toys for Tots and other national things like that, but Steve was local from Florence. I grew up here, was raised here and went to school in Northampton. It’s local, that’s why we choose it,” said Burke.

In total, the dealership collected $700 for the fund this year.

Named after a former business manager at the Gazette, the Toy Fund began in 1933 to help families in need during the Depression.

Today, the fund distributes vouchers worth $65 to qualifying families for each child from age 1 to 14.

The Gazette absorbs all the administrative costs of the drive, collecting applications and mailing vouchers out to eligible families. Applications are received by local community outreach organizations including the United Way and Community Action Pioneer Valley.

To be eligible for the Toy Fund, families must live in any Hampshire County community except Ware or in the southern Franklin County towns of Deerfield, Sunderland, Whately, Shutesbury and Leverett or in Holyoke in Hampden County.

Donations can be made by mailing them to the Gazette at P.O. Box 299, Northampton 01061, or by using the online portal found at toyfund.gazettenet.com. As donations come in, the Gazette publishes donors’ names in the way they request.

The following stores are participating this year: A2Z Science and Learning Store, 57 King St., Northampton; Blue Marble/Little Blue, 150 Main St., Level 1, Northampton; High Five Books, 141 N. Main St., Florence; The Toy Box, 201 N. Pleasant St., Amherst; Comics N More, 64 Cottage St., Easthampton; Once Upon A Child,1458 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Plato’s Closet, 1472 Riverdale St., West Springfield; Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters, 227 Russell St., Hadley; Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St., Village Commons, South Hadley; The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, 125 W. Bay Road, Amherst; World Eye Bookshop, 134 Main St., Greenfield; Holyoke Sporting Goods Co., and 1584 Dwight St. No. 1, Holyoke.

Samuel Gelinas can be reached at sgelinas@gazettenet.com