2 Lucan, Ont. boys raise $5,700 to buy toys and food for families in need for Christmas

Two boys from Lucan, Ont., are starting the season of giving off in a big way, by donating $5,700 worth of toys and food to the local food bank.

For the past four years, nine-year-olds Porter Huffman and Colton Lawrence have been doing their own toy drive to help children in their community whose families cannot afford Christmas presents.

This year the two decided to use $4,000 of the money to purchase toys from their local Canadian Tire, and then the rest they used to go towards food hampers and gift cards.

“I like filling up the carts, and it was really fun because I wanted a lot of the stuff, too, and I know a lot of kids would like it,” Colton said.

They donate all the toys and food to the Ailsa Craig and Area Food Bank in North Middlesex.

“They came and picked them up the day we bought them, and they could barely fit all of it in the back of their truck,” Porter said.

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What started as $350 of mostly Canadian Tire money when they were five years old has grown to over $5,700 this year.

The two have started to make a name for themselves in the community, with local businesses and residents donating money to help the cause and the two doing a bottle drive this year to raise more funds.

Their moms, Lindsay Lawrence and Jenn Noble, are also very proud of what they have accomplished.

“You can see in their faces when we pile all those toys up, they are so proud of themselves,” Lawrence, Colton’s mother, said.

She also noted the two are not doing it on their own and that they have a lot of help from other friends to make it happen. The St. Marys Canadian Tire also helps by closing down a checkout to make all of the purchases and giving the two a discount on all of the toys each year.

“We feel a lot of the boys’ friends have helped as well and their mothers, so it’s a community effort,” Lawrence said.