The South Simcoe Police shut the door on the Command Post Saturday afternoon after another successful toy drive in partnership with CTV Barrie to help build Toy Mountain.
“It is very big,” Constable Nicole Kostiuk. “Almost every year, this large command post we have gets filled with toys for all the needy families out there.”
All day Saturday, people packed the Command Post with unwrapped toys outside the Canadian Tire in Bradford, where General Manager Richard Buskermolen said the presence of the truck in the parking lot was huge a motivator for shoppers to donate.
“It definitely does, just being down in the toy aisle you see people in there picking things up,” said Buskermolen. “They’re just grabbing armfuls (and) they come to the cash and they go straight out the door to the Command Post, it’s wonderful.”
Among the many who donated Saturday afternoon was Joe Mello, who graciously gave a bag of toys. He says his family went through tough times when he was a child and this was his way of giving back, remembering the years when he went without a gift.
“I remember having my first toy, I was seven-years-old,” said Mello. “It was a plastic toy, but it was amazing”
Kostiuk says this isn’t an uncommon act for those who once received help to pay it forward.
“Families that know what it is like to have a tough time, usually give back when they do have that little extra to give,” said Kostiuk.
The stuffed Command Post will be taken to Simcoe Family Connexions where on Monday the toys will be unloaded and distributed throughout the Christmas hampers.
