The donations keep pouring in for CTV Barrie’s Toy Mountain campaign – including the toys collected at our first ever Drive-Thru Drop-Off at the Barrie Molson Centre.
As the trailer door opened at the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) of Simcoe County on Thursday – it was hard to believe what was inside.
“The children will be just overwhelmed, I’m overwhelmed, just trying to talk about it,” says Sandy Jacklin with CAS.
The toys were collected Wednesday night during the Drive-Thru Drop-Off. The location was changed to the BMC at the last minute but it didn’t effect donations. As the cars rolled in, so did the toys. The Barrie Police trailer was nearly full within an hour.
“I was amazed at some of the people that showed up; they completely filled their vehicle with toys for the children. We had one gentleman who brought in dozens of boxes of just stocking stuffers,” said Barrie Police Sgt. Mark Hyatt.
Unloading more than 500 toys and bins of 3,000 small stocking stuffers, the generosity of our community is overwhelming. The toys collected will help the CAS make Christmas brighter for more than 2,000 children.
“My daughter and everyone that was there, we were just overwhelmed and smiling. You could just feel the love and carrying of other people coming out to support us,” adds Jacklin.
While hundreds of toys have been collected, the CAS says more donations are still needed. There is still a need for items for infants and young teenaged buys. But the CAS is also looking for help for older teens that don’t have a family to turn to this holiday season.
“We also have children, or independent youth, that are living on their own, going to college, trying to make a go of things and they still need support as well. So they could use toiletries, pots and pans, gift cards,” added Jacklin.
Friday is the last day CTV Barrie will be collecting toys at 33 Beacon Road but you can drop toys off at the CAS in Barrie at 60 Bell Farm Road right up until Christmas Eve.
