On December 6, Brookhaven Town Clerk Kevin LaValle will join EJ’S PJ’S founder Patricia Poggi to spearhead the Town of Brookhaven’s efforts along with EJ’s PJs to collect and distribute new pajamas to children of all ages who need them the most. This year’s event will be held on December 6 from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm at Connect Church, 31 Horseblock Road in Centereach. For more information, go to www.ejspjspajamadrive.com or call Town Clerk Kevin LaValle’s office at 631-451-9101.
EJ’s PJs Pajama Drive started with one mission in mind – to give out pajamas, and that mission has not changed since 2011 when Patricia Poggi and her sons started the drive. The name EJ’s PJs was inspired by Patricia Poggi’s three sons, Edward, Jeremy, and Patrick who are the backbone and driving force behind this annual fundraiser. EJ’s PJs began as a way to give back to the community and to take time out from the holiday season to reflect upon what matters most in this life, which is helping others.
Beginnings... “Poggi Plaid Pajamas”
It is a tradition of the Poggi family to wear what they call their “Poggi Plaid Pajamas” every Christmas, and Patricia and her boys wanted nothing more than to be able to provide the same safe, cozy, and warm feeling a pair of new pajamas brings to people in our community who might not be fortunate enough to have. This is what sparked the conversation with her kids to create this ever-growing fundraiser collecting new pajamas to donate to local charities.
EJ’s PJs has grown to be an annual event, starting simply with a bin on the front porch of the Poggi residence where only friends and family donated, to now gaining the support of the local community and Town of Brookhaven with drop-off boxes located throughout Suffolk allowing our entire community to be a part of this wonderful act of charity by giving them the ability to drop-off their donations at a place most convenient to them.
The drive has been successful with increasing the number of pajama donations each year thanks to the wonderful people we are surrounded by in our community and by the growing support we have gained from our many local businesses. EJ’s PJs wouldn’t be possible without everyone’s immense teamwork and effort. It has created a special network of hardworking and compassionate people who come together annually with the same goal in mind of giving back to children in need, always returning to the Poggi family’s original passion the day they decided to begin collecting pajamas over the holiday season.
As this pajama drive has grown, we are so fortunate to have had special opportunities to work with more and more people and even attend special community events, like the Town of Brookhaven’s Annual Youth Interface Program Toy Drive, which we have been blessed to be a part of the past few holiday seasons. Being able to be a part of happenings as such makes us so happy because it is a way for us to give the gift of warm and cozy pajamas to more people in need every year.
Our vision became a reality on December 11, 2021, thanks to Pastor Hank Kistler of Connect Church in Centereach, his wife Allison and then-Councilman Kevin LaValle. We were able to host a Breakfast & Pictures with Santa Pajama Party. Our goal was to collect 1,000 pairs of pajamas to donate. With the help of this in-person event, where admission was a pair of pajamas as well as all the collection boxes at local businesses and schools, we were able to surpass our goal and collected 1167 pairs of pajamas.