THUNDER BAY – “O” Division Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has participated in the ‘Toys for the North’ charitable drive since 2010 in partnership with the Canadian Toy Association and Thomson Terminals transportation. This initiative has evolved over the years to include a national network of RCMP, law enforcement, corporate and external partners who collectively contribute to the success of delivering new toys to children in our Northern communities.
To date, we have made the holidays a little brighter by distributing over $500,000 worth of toys to children in Northern parts of Labrador, Manitoba, Nunavut and Ontario.
This year’s toy delivery by RCMP detachment staff will take place in Northern communities located in Newfoundland/Labrador and Ontario.
We are grateful for the hundreds of volunteers who contribute toys, gift wrap, transportation services, planning and distribution from the member companies of the Canadian Toy Association, Hallmark Canada, Thomson Terminals, Canadian Forces, North Star Air, Gardewine, RCMP Veterans Association, RCMP Detachments and policing partners as well as the private businesses, and the caring public who help to put smiles on the faces of the children.
In addition to the corporate donations, each year RCMP employees across the GTA and surrounding detachments get involved and make toy donations. We welcome the public to contribute by dropping off a new unwrapped toy to one of our four GTA detachments in Newmarket, Milton and Toronto Airport Detachment or at our Hamilton-Niagara Regional Detachment in Stoney Creek during regular business hours. Donation boxes will be available at the four offices between Monday, November 5, 2018, and Friday, November 23, 2018, 9:00 am – 3:30 pm.
Locally in Thunder Bay, corporate and public toy donations are accepted at North Star Airs’ head office on Walsh Street during normal business hours until December 1st.
“There are many youth-oriented charitable groups out there that help the disadvantaged at Christmas but Toys for the North is the only drive that sends toys to thousands of Canadian children that live in Canada’s northernmost regions,” says RCMP Corporal Stacey Anderson, National coordinator 2018 Toys for the North. “It is not an easy task to coordinate but the reward of these efforts is seeing smiles on those kids’ faces, and knowing we are making a difference in their lives.”
Be sure to follow the journey of the toys from GTA to Northern Newfoundland/Labrador and Ontario on our Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds or by following hashtag #CTAT4N.
Visit Toys For The North for more information.
