School bus gathers toys
For Sue Van Steenoven, Christmas is all about the spirit of giving. She has been driving a school bus for almost 15 years and loves kids and toys.
So it was pretty much a no-brainer for her to spearhead a toy collection initiative in support of Calgary’s 18th Annual Toy Mountain Campaign.
“It’s a feel-good. It gets you in the spirit. All of my kids are grown, so I don’t have any little ones to buy toys for anymore,” says Van Steenoven, who fully decked out the interior of her school bus this year with garlands, wreaths and stockings. “The kids love it.”
She put the toy collection idea out to her driver colleagues in midNovember, building on the initiative she started last year.
“We collected about 30 gifts last year. This year I suggested stuffing my car. It’s a cute little Mini Cooper and I thought that would be fun,” recalls Van Steenoven, adding the idea morphed into stuffing a school bus and then into filling Southland’s restored antique 1947 International Harvester School Bus.
“It has no seats, so it is perfect. I thought we could really fill it up,” she says. Toys have been steadily rolling in and the old school bus is filling up. And, surprisingly, it’s not just the drivers supporting the campaign.
“Our Southland family extends to the family’s family. Drivers will come in and say, ‘This toy is from my mom or this is from my sister,’” says Van Steenoven, who is thrilled with the response. The Southland team has no specific goal in mind; they entered into this simply for the camaraderie and the spirit of the season.
“If we fill the bus to the rim, that’s fabulous. If we fill it halfway, that’s fabulous, too,” says Van Steenoven, adding she and some of her colleagues will be dropping the toys off at a Toy Mountain collection point early next week.
All toys collected for the Toy Mountain Campaign are donated to the Salvation Army’s Family Christmas Assistance Program, which helps families in need during the holiday season. The Salvation Army relies heavily on the program to ensure there are toys in the hands of lessfortunate children on Christmas Day.
Last year, Toy Mountain collected more than 34,000 toys, helping 2.946 families. This year, the need is even greater. But for Van Steenoven, it is not about the amount of toys collected; it is all about getting into the Christmas spirit of giving. She says driving a school bus full of elementary and junior high schoolchildren every day gives you a little insight into what kids are thinking.
“You get the kids saying that there is no such thing as Santa Claus. But I fully believe that there is. He may not come down the chimney but Santa Claus is all of us, and that is what we are doing now — being Santa.”
If you would like to contribute to Toy Mountain, you can drop off an unwrapped toy to donation locations in Bankers Hall, IKEA, Marlborough Mall, Westbrook Mall, Fifth Avenue Auto Haus, Fabric Land, La-Z-Boy Furniture Galleries, Calgary Police Service locations and Citytv.
The highest need items this year are toys/gifts for both girls and boys ages 10-17; toys and development/ learning items for babies up to age three; sports items (soccer balls, hockey sticks, etc.); electronics (video games, DVDs, etc.); books for all ages and Lego for all ages.
On Wednesday, employees of Calgary-based oil and gas producer Enerplus made a heartfelt trip to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Calgary Penbrooke Club to deliver more than 2,700 items. The donations included toys, baby items, clothing, bus tickets, sports equipment and a wide variety of food.
Canada Cares — a new initiative involving a virtual community, grassroots events and national and regional caregiver awards — is inviting Canadians to take the caregiving challenge and celebrate the season by sharing compassionate holiday stories with fellow Canadians.
Stories can be about anything from baking cookies for a friend who is caring for her mother, or shopping for someone who has a relative in the hospital.
Every person who participates by submitting a story, photo or video on the Canada Cares website will be entered into a draw to win thousands of dollars worth of prizes.
To share your story, please visit canadacares.org.
Submissions must be a maximum of 50 words and be received by Jan. 15, 2013.