CTV Barrie officially kicks off 2022 Toy Mountain campaign

With a little more than a month to go until Santa comes to town, he has help already in Simcoe County as the CTV Barrie Toy Mountain campaign has kicked off.

While logistical work has been underway for quite some time, the campaign officially got underway on Monday. Every year it works to support thousands of people who are registered with Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions.

"We also service youth in need in the community," says Cindy Ramsunahi, the holiday coordinator for Family Connexions. "So they are having a hard time, or we've just been servicing them for a number of years and providing support in terms of money, basic needs, mental health support, things like that."

In 2021 approximately 3000 individuals benefited from the work of the Toy Mountain campaign. With prices rising on nearly everything, the need for this year's campaign is expected to be high, with demand for help from Simcoe Muskoka Family Connexions rising as well.

"The change I've seen is the need this year is definitely increased," says Meaghan O'Neill, who has been volunteering with the campaign for 14 years. "We normally don't start quite this early, but we have, and we've gotten going really quickly."

Items like colouring books and baby items are always needed and can be dropped off in bulk donations. Also, gifts for teens are consistently among the most essential items.

"We find that teens are often forgotten when it comes to the holiday program, and a number of items that we can always use is gift cards for our teens," says Ramsunahi. "We can also use electronics, so headphones, speakers, items like that that can help benefit them and are something that they'd really enjoy."

For the 18th year in a row, the South Simcoe Police Service is once again partnering with CTV for the campaign. Acting Chief John Van Dyke says officers know firsthand how high the need is for support in the community.

"Christmas is a special time for everybody; everybody deserves to have a nice Christmas," says Van Dyke. "We know that's not possible for some people or some families, so we're there to help families try to experience the best Christmas they can."

Toys can be dropped off at the CTV Barrie station at 33 Beacon Road and at Tilemaster in Barrie, which is again partnering in the initiative. The team is hoping to exceed last year's record of 16 bins filled with donations for those in need.

"It's pretty inspirational. We're all family people. We've got families and kids and folks we all care about," says Jason Gill, Tilemaster's manager. "We know what it's like to maybe not be able to provide that happy Christmas one year in the past. We just like to be able to do everything that we can to make that a little bit better for people."

For more information on the campaign, you can click here.