Skip to main content

Orillia's parking tickets add holiday cheer for little people

A parking ticket is affixed to the windshield of a vehicle on Wednesday June 9, 2010. 
A parking ticket is affixed to the windshield of a vehicle on Wednesday June 9, 2010.
Share

The usual response to a parking ticket is not ‘Yay!’

But during Orillia’s Toys for Tickets campaign, poor parkers can at least take a little pleasure in knowing their gaffe is someone else’s gift.

The city of Orillia collected more than $4,100 during this year’s campaign, and presented cheques to the local chapter of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orillia and District, Couchiching Jubilee House and the Salvation Army.

“Thank you to everyone who chose to turn their parking tickets into a new children’s toy. Your donation makes the holiday season brighter for local families in need,” said Mayor Don McIsaac. “The Toys for Tickets campaign has become a tradition in Orillia and has brought so much joy to Orillia children over the years.”

Toys for Tickets asked every person who received a parking ticket (with the exception of accessible parking violations) in Orillia between Nov. 1 and Dec. 1, to pay the fine amount by donating a new children’s toy of equal or greater value than the ticket.

“Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orillia is so grateful to be included in this initiative once again. Our agency is community funded and community focused and we are continuously blown away by the generosity and support our community provides us with,” said Haleigh Payne, fundraising and community development coordinator of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orillia & District. 

Over the past 17 years, the City of Orillia Toys for Tickets campaign has generated over $50,000 worth of new toys in lieu of payment for parking tickets.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Stay Connected