Firefighters launch annual Toys for Tots campaign

Christmas is a joyous occasion for most children.

But for Thunder Bay’s most impoverished the holiday is a stark reminder they’re among the city’s have-nots.

Parents have to choose between keeping the heat on, a roof over their heads or putting food on the table. Toys aren’t even part of the equation in many households.

That’s where Toys for Tots comes in.

Put on by the Thunder Bay Professional Firefighters Associated each year, the organization partners with the Christmas Cheer Fund, collecting more than $150,000 last year to purchase toys for children in need that will be handed out during Christmas Cheer’s annual hamper campaign.|

Toys for Tots chairman Paul Penna said the need keeps growing, but he remains optimistic that they’ll be able to take care of everyone who needs help this Christmas.

“Thunder Bay obviously hasn’t been booming in terms of paper mills and pulp mills. So a lot of people have gone through a lot of hard times and that means children go through hard times,” Penna said.

“This is our way to help those families.”

As usual, firefighters have set up shop at Intercity Shopping Centre, adjacent to the food court, where they will be collecting donations for the next few weeks.

The campaign kicked off with a $47,880 donation from local Tim Hortons owners, the proceeds of the annual Smile Cookie campaign.

“We’re so blessed to have that, so I’m pretty optimistic that we’ll be able to take care of the children in our community this year once again,” said Penna, who would like to see this year’s Toys for Tots campaign top last year’s result.

Joleene Kemp, chairwoman of the Christmas Cheer Fund, called it the perfect partnership.

While not a necessity, every child likes to have at least one present to open at Christmastime each year, Kemp added.

“There’s an expectation that every child is going to have something special at Christmas. These children deserve to be the same as they children they are sitting beside in school. They deserve to have something brand new and through no fault of their own they are living in poverty,” Kemp said.

“We want to make a difference. We don’t pretend to be the solvers of any of the ills of the world. Rather we look at how can we help, how can we make it better.”

Christmas Cheer employs a volunteer toy buyer who takes the money and purchases gifts for qualified children to put in the hampers.