Gifts galore for those in need
Corner Brook Firefighter’s Toy Drive receives explosion of community support
It’s been a rollercoaster fall for the Corner Brook Firefighter’s Toy Drive.
But through it all — and with massive support from the community and beyond — it’s looking like there will be lots of toys for boys and girls under the tree this Christmas morning.
“It’s been unbelievable,” toy drive chair Greg Dinney told The West Coast Wire. “The amount of toys that have come in and the monetary donations. It’s basically coast to coast, we’ve had people from Labrador and St. John’s that were just trying to find out what they could do to help. In Holyrood, they did a toy drive and they got some excess toys and they said, ‘Do you need them?’ and I said, ‘No, we don’t need those toys, and if you guys have somewhere else to give it to, go ahead because we still got toys coming in.’”
The explosion of support came in the wake of an unfortunate incident at the toy drive’s storage facility.
Dinney estimates of the approximately $8,000 worth of gifts in storage, about $4,000 was destroyed in an act of vandalism in early November.
When the firefighters went to the public looking for support to recoup their losses, it came fast.
Dinney says within days they had made back what they had lost.
Businesses matched donations and did draws, while members of the public were generous with their donations.
In the weeks since, the toy drive has continued to thrive.
The Beary Merry Christmas Concert, the firefighters’ main annual toy drive event, held this year on Nov. 27, returned to pre-COVID levels of support.
Attendees bring gifts for the show, which features a slate of live music performances.
“This year, it was amazing to see how many people we had,” said Dinney.
Ever year during the Corner Brook Santa Claus Parade, they collect toys. They received massive support there as well.
“The amount of toys we collected this year in the parade, I’m gonna say it was at least double what we had last year,” said Dinney.
By Dec. 5, when Dinney spoke to the West Coast Wire, he says they had already raised more this year than they had last year.
The toys they collect are given to children up to age 12.
The level of support comes during a time when need is greater than ever.
Salvation Army Community and Family Services (CFS) collects the requests for the toy drive and distributes toys, themselves, in the north and south shore of the Bay of Islands, for 13-yearolds and for anyone in special circumstances experiencing a need.
By Dec. 6, they confirmed they had seen 343 toy hamper requests, already exceeding last year’s number of 339.
“We are seeing a lot of brand-new families we haven’t seen before,” Jane Ash, community ministries worker for the Salvation Army CFS, told The West Coast Wire.
Ash says they take requests right up until Christmas Eve.
The firefighters start packing the toys in the Christmas hampers around the second week of December.
Once packed, they take the toys to a central location and set up two dates for families, oftentimes parents or grandparents, to pick them up in time for Christmas Day.
It’s a rewarding bit of business for firefighters like Dinney.
“They’re so grateful for everything,” he said. “They’re happy that we’re helping them out because it’s people that need it. So, they’re appreciative of everything that we do for them and just coming in, the smiles on their faces when they’re going out the door, that’s nice too.”
The firefighters accept donations right up until Christmas. Even then, they can add the toys to their stockpile for future Christmas’.
BACKGROUND
The toy drive was started by a group of firefighters who included its first chair, John Evans, as well as Rick Saunders and Fred Hayer nearly 50 years ago.
Initially, the firefighters started collecting used toys, fixing them and cleaning them and doing whatever they could to ensure children in the community would have toys on Christmas.
“Even when I came here in 2004, I can remember we were cleaning up toys and all that stuff,” recalled Dinney.
However, they eventually transitioned to new toys only for reasons of safety and cleanliness.
Dinney took over from Gord Hamlyn as chair in 2020. Hamlyn had been chair for over 30 years before retiring from the fire department.