Skip to content

Toy Mountain provides presents for children in need

Donations of new, unwrapped toys being accepted at the Thunder Bay Wellness Centre until Dec. 20.
Alan Cranton Lori Mitchell Toy Mountain
Dr. Alan Cranton, owner of Thunder Bay Wellness Centre, and the Salvation Army's Lori Mitchell on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019 launch the annual Toy Mountain Drive. (Leith Dunick, tbnewswatch.com)

THUNDER BAY – Toy Mountain is already starting to grow, and it’s still just November.

That’s a great sign.

The annual toy drive has been providing presents for children for the past 15 years and doesn’t appear to be slowing down, said Thunder Bay Wellness Centre owner Alan Cranton, who helped launch this year’s effort on Wednesday with his staff and representatives of the Salvation Army of Thunder Bay.

“When we first started I was looking at a way in which we could give back to the community. I’ve been in practice for 34 years and this is the time of year when everybody is thinking about giving. I got the idea from a friend in Ottawa and it sounded so great that we started implementing it – and we continue to do it,” Cranton said.

Over the past decade-and-a-half Toy Mountain has collected thousands of toys and thousands of dollars in donations.

The toys – new and unwrapped – are dropped off at the Thunder Bay Wellness Centre, under a Christmas tree in the reception area, and are in turn handed over to the Salvation Army to be distributed to children who might otherwise go without on Christmas Day.

Lori Mitchell, the executive director at the Salvation Army Community and Residential Services, said it has a huge impact on young lives each year.

And it allows parents to have a say in the gift their children get.

“We put them out so the parents can actually choose the toys for the children. We don’t want them to be wrapped. We’re looking for toys from infants right up to teenagers, 17 years old,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said in a typical year they get more than 200 toys, along with the cash donations so if there is a gap, it can be filled.

“Quite often we’re lacking toys for the older children, so by people giving cash donations, it allows us to go and buy what we need to fill those gaps,” Mitchell said.

“To have the toys come in like this is wonderful. We have many clients, many people in the community, who even with both parents working find it difficult to make ends meet. When a season comes like Christmas, it just adds stress and pressure on the families to be able to make Christmas for their children the same as it is for other children that theirs are going to school with,” Mitchell said.

“By having toy drives like this one means we can make sure that every child has a great Christmas.”

Donations will be accepted until Dec. 20 at the Thunder Bay Wellness Centre, located at 701 Memorial Avenue.



Leith Dunick

About the Author: Leith Dunick

A proud Nova Scotian who has called Thunder Bay home since 2002, Leith is Dougall Media's director of news, but still likes to tell your stories too. Wants his Expos back and to see Neil Young at least one more time. Twitter: @LeithDunick
Read more


Comments

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks