When Santa needs toys for children during the holidays, he depends on his elves. When Cathy Schaedtler and her son Scott need toys to donate to injured or sick children, they depend on students in and around their local school district. The Schaedtlers started their 2004 holiday season by collecting unopened kids' meal toys from area schools. They donated 1,535 toys to the emergency room at New Island Hospital in Bethpage. For them, it's a holiday tradition.

Over the past nine years, Scott and Ms. Schaedtler, an Our Lady of Mercy alumnus whose mother lives in Hicksville, have donated around 3,000 McDonald's, Burger King, Wal-Mart and Wendy's toys through "Cathy and Scott's Toys for Tears."

The goal, Ms. Schaedtler said, is to spread the word and get more donations to bring more smiles to kids in the emergency room. If she, her son and donations from just a few schools can help out over 3,000 kids, she said, "imagine how much of a difference we could make by getting the word out and make all emergency rooms a little less traumatic for even more children."

Cathy and Scott's Toys for Tears started in 1995, when Scott was around 4-years-old. "We had about 20 toys and didn't know what to do with them," said Schaedtler, who lives in Seaford. "He was thrilled when they put a sign up that said 'Donated by Scott.'"

It didn't stop there. "We did that every time we had 20 or 30 toys," Ms. Schaedtler said. When Scott reached fourth grade, Ms. Schaedtler decided to open the idea to his schoolmates and received 185 toys. In 2002, she collected 750 donations from corporations and 250 toys from students at Island Trees Middle School. Some families even keep the Schaedtler's and their project in mind when they're out getting fast food.

"Some mothers save [the toys] or buy them for me," Ms. Schaedtler said.

Things changed last year, however, when the corporations that had willingly given in the past denied her requests for donations or did not return her phone calls, Ms. Schaedtler said. As a result, she appealed to other schools and several became involved in Toys for Tears; and, as a result, Plainedge Middle and Elementary Schools and Bethpage Middle School as well as St. Ignatius Loyola School and Our Lady of Mercy School in Hicksville.

Patricia Rebollo of Hicksville, who knows Ms. Schaedtler through their bowling league, took the Toys for Tears flyer and gave it to Sister Joanne of Our Lady of Mercy, where her child is a student. "Sister Joanne had it printed and in each student's folder by the next day," Ms. Rebollo said. "She's seen the impact that the toy drive has on her kid's friends. They were happy that they were making someone happy."

According to Ms. Schaedtler, anyone could help out by looking for sanitary, unopened toys around the house. "They don't cost anyone anything because they've already purchased the kids' meals and have the toys," Ms. Schaedtler said. "These toys aren't just sitting in some person's closet anymore, someone's using them."

Scott Schaedtler, now 13, has the same feelings and dreams for Cathy and Scott's Toys for Tears. "It makes me feel good," Scott said, adding that he wants to continue with the charity at least up until his senior year of high school, where he has a set goal for himself.

"It would be nice to have to spread this out across Nassau County," he said with confidence. "I'd like to get 10,000 in one shot."