Northwestel is once again doing their part to help out families for the holidays with their annual Toy Drive.
This year’s drive launched on Tuesday, November 15th, and will be running until December 12th. Throughout that period, Northwestel will be collecting toys at retail locations in Whitehorse, YT, and Yellowknife, NT, to support local charitable organizations.
Catherine Newsome, the Senior Manager for Communications with Northwestel, shared a few more details about how the drive is run.
“Every year, we accept toys into our Yellowknife Retail Store, and we partner with the Salvation Army, who helps connect those toys to families who need a little help over the holidays. We encourage anyone who is able to come in and drop off an unwrapped toy to help spread a little joy this holiday season to those who need it.”
Newsome went on to explain that Northwestel runs similar [programs in Whitehorse and Iqaluit, and that between the three programs, last year’s toy drive was able to help around 1,500 families across the north. Newsome is confident that this year’s drive will go just as well.
While thousands of toys are donated every year, Catherine has noticed a certain pattern that she hopes to change for this year.
“One of the things we do notice is that we get a lot of toys for youngsters, which is wonderful. However, I do encourage people to keep the older kids in mind too. Board games, card games, things that might be more suitable for teenagers is something we really need as well because there’s definitely lots of families out there with teenagers, just as many as youngsters that we wanna help this season.”
Catherine finished with a shoutout to the Salvation Army, who provides plenty of help to the Toy Drive every year. Northwestel will also be making a $5,000 donation to the Yellowknife Branch of the Salvation Army.
