Just a few weeks before the big day, and a couple of big donations have been sent to various Yellowknife toy drives from some even bigger hearts.
Employees at the Yellowknife Co-op, as well as the organizers of the store’s Christmas Toy Drive, received a pleasant surprise when newly elected MLA Keiron Testart arrived with a donation of toys worth $10,000. The MLA for the Range Lake community shared some details on how this donation came to be.
“I had a constituent reach out who’s a very generous individual and wanted to contribute, so we were able to work with the Co-op and find out when they were doing their annual toy drive and brought ten thousand dollars’ worth of toys for kids at Stanton Territorial Hospital. I’m really hoping that it encourages other people to contribute to the toy drive so we can give some kids who really need some cheering up over the holidays some nice new toys!”
In an interview with the constituent in question, who wished to remain anonymous, they stated that they have been helping to organize donations like this with friends for the last three to four years. The organizer explained that the toys are collected in Edmonton, and when there are too many toys to be evenly shared around the Alberta capital, the remainder are shipped up north with the help of Grimshaw Trucking and Yellowknife Best Movers.
The Organizer estimated that last year saw as many as twelve pallets delivered up north, each of which were also valued at around $10,000. Last year’s toys ended up going to locations such as Stanton Hospital, Fort Simpson, Fort Resolution, and Lutselk’e.
Along with the Co-op, the Organizer said that this year’s toys will be going to the YKDFN, and six pallets of toys will be going to the Tłı̨chǫ community.
“It’s something that we’ve quietly been doing for three years now. This year is our fourth. We look forward to trying to do it for as long as possible. Obviously there’s always a need, and there’s just a matter of making sure the kids have something in the challenging economic times that they face in the smaller communities. So our focus isn’t really on as much to do with Yellowknife as it is to do with the smaller communities to ensure that they’re not left out when we’re doing stuff like this.”
The anonymous organizer of the donation made sure to express their thanks to the drivers and workers at Grimshaw Trucking and Yellowknife Best Movers for their invaluable help with these donations.
Local residents still have time to make donations of their own. Donations to the Co-op Toy Drive will be accepted until Monday, December 18th.
