TORONTO – The goal for Toronto fire fighters’ this year has been set at 30-thousand toys, and they are off to a great start.
Donations at Toy Drive Live 2013 have tripled compared to last year with over 6,000 toys collected on Thursday alone. Among the donations, a substantial cheque was presented on behalf of The Shops at Don Mills.
“We’re presenting today a five thousand dollar cheque,” said Eva Murrant, General Manager at the mall. “This is just something that we are giving to the toy drive in support of the Toronto fire fighters (and) I’m delighted to do it on behalf of the team.”
Rick Berenz, President of the Toronto Fire Fighters’ Toy Drive, said the sum of money is both substantial and crucial in enabling the fire fighters have their annual drive.
“We don’t get this kind of money and $5,000 dollars for us will almost get us through a whole season and the donations are up to half a million dollars for the toys, so it’s huge,” said Berenz. “The toys that are going to go out, are going to go to kids at need and this ($5,000 dollar cheque) will help us make that happen.”
Several people came out to support the cause in a variety of ways. Thursday’s event featured all sorts of entertainment including a “meet and mingle” with Santa and his reindeer. There were also carollers, ice sculptures, colouring contests, a festive photo booth and much more.
WATCH: How to capture the perfect holiday photo:
A school choir of 45 kids sang throughout the evening. And they were not the only kids chipping in. Students from Ellesmer-Statton public school raised over a thousand dollars in a bake sale. Walmart also matched their donation bringing the total raised up to $2,800. They used that money to purchase toys for the drive.
Some of the kids from the school attended Thursday’s event and said they are happy to help those in need.
“It was amazing, but it’s not about us, it’s about the kids that are less fortunate than us and I wish they have a very merry Christmas,” said Dante Noel, one of the children involved.
“We learned how to give back to the community with fundraising,” said Nick, another student.
All together, the group was able to purchase around 2-hundred toys.
WATCH: Students pitch in for Fire Fighters’ Toy Drive
And the night had some other sizeable donations—Spin Master pitched in around 450 toys and Salomon Sporting Goods donated hundreds as well.
A representative from Spin Master was there to show off one of the hottest toys they donated, among the hundreds.
“Zoomer, it’s our first robot dog. You can train it unlike husbands and boyfriends,” joked Susie Adelson, Director of Earned Media and Experiential at Spin Master.
She also wanted to point out her great appreciation for the cause taken up by Toronto’s fire fighters.
“We brought a couple gifts, about 452 to be exact and we’re thrilled to be part of it,” said Adelson. “For us, every day we know how important to let kids (have) their dreams come true. So we know during the holiday season how hard it is if you’re not able to do that and it’s our pleasure to be part of people’s Christmas dreams (coming) true.”
Video: Watch the Toy Drive Live on the News Hour (Nov. 28)
“We’ve got the fire fighters who base a whole career on helping people so when they ask for help, we’ve got to help,” he said
Thursday’s event was the fourth annual live newscast from The Shops at Don Mills.
Last year about 2-thousand toys were collected on the night of Toy Drive Live and a record breaking 25-thousand toys were collected in total.
This year, Toronto fire fighters are setting the bar high, once again. They will be continuing to accept both toy and monetary donations throughout much of December.
Shops at Don Mills is also asking shoppers to bring a gift to their holiday studio which will then be donated to the fire fighters’ toy drive
The fire fighters’ toy drive has worked in association with Global News for the past 7 years and has been working in the community for decades.
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