Those big-hearted paramedics are at it again this Christmas season, setting out to fill two ambulances with toys.
Paramedic Allan Rennie says the annual toy drive is this coming Sunday from 8:00am until 6:00pm, outside Canadian Tire and Walmart in Timmins.
“We collect toys and any sort of donations whether it’s Canadian Tire money or gift cards, cash to buy toys for the children within the community who don’t have the opportunity to have a good Christmas,” Rennie remarks.
Donated toys should be new and unwrapped. The cash, Canadian Tire money and gift cards are used to fill in gaps in age groups. All the toys go to Family and Children’s Services for distribution.
New this year is a hockey net in each location, to be filled with toys for teenagers. Rennie says that’s one category for which cash and gift cards will be particularly helpful.
“So the gift cards are actually used to purchase the toys for the categories that we don’t actually have toys for. So it’s either we can use those, Canadian Tire money or cash, to go in the store and purchase toys for that.”