Most Toys “R” Us locations in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) don’t open their doors till 9:00 am, but the dance music, confetti and cheering started at the toy chain’s Sherway Gardens location in Etobicoke well before that Thursday morning.
The store played host to the fifth annual “Three-Minute Dash” — an event put together with Starlight Children’s Foundation that gives a group of Canadian kids suffering from serious illnesses exactly what the name implies; three minutes to grab as many toys and goodies as they can off the store shelves.
Every year, ten children are selected from letters submitted by their families. This year, seven-year-old Alejandra Germanese of Oshawa, born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, was one of those given the opportunity. She’s the second Ontario child to earn the chance in 2018, following a previous shopping spree granted to a five-year-old Barrie boy named Tyson earlier in the week.
Alejandra typically spends her downtime reading and watching movies; so before the dash, she told Global News, she had only a few hot ticket items on her list.
“(A) guitar, tablet,” she said, pausing briefly, to think.
“And that’s it.”
With the help of her family and members of the Toys R Us and Starlight teams, she got those items out of the way early, spending the remaining time going for the really good stuff. With an ear-to-ear smile, she listed just some of her eight-cart haul breathlessly after the final seconds of her spree ran out.
“A dinosaur, Lego, Elsa (from Frozen), guitar, tablet, games, everything! Thank you,” she said.
The aim of the initiative is to give kids happy memories outside of the hospital. Alejandra’s mother, Antonella, said that mission was definitely accomplished Thursday morning and gave her daughter more than she expected — and a lot to brag about to her friends on the last day of school.
“We had a lot of fun and we definitely want to thank everybody that’s here today and Starlight and Toys R Us for giving us this opportunity. It’s just been amazing,” Antonella said.