Toy Drive supports thousands

Nick Seebruch
Toy Drive supports thousands
Mrs. Claus was helping out at the annual Christmas Toy Drive (Nick Seebruch/ TC Media).

CORNWALL, Ontario – The annual Christmas Toy Drive distribution day took place on Thursday, Dec. 20, at the Cornwall Armoury.

The distribution was organized by the Cornwall Optimist Club with support of many volunteers.

More than 1,100 families were registered to benefit from the Toy Drive, which Terry Muir of the Optimist Club estimated equalled roughly 5,000 to 6,000 individuals.

Each registered family was given a specific time on Thursday to arrive and collect their share from the Toy Drive.

On arrival, a volunteer would go and collect food for the family while the parents were escorted by one of the elves through the Toy Drive to find toys for their children.

All of the food was donated by the Cornwall Service Club Council.

Based on family size, families could receive, turkey, chicken, ham, onions, potatoes, milk, rice, oranges and more. Half the armoury was filled with toys and the other half was filled with food.

Members of the Salvation Army were helping to direct people at registration.

The event ran until 6 p.m. and even afterwards, volunteers remained behind at least until 9 p.m. to tear down and clean-up after another successful year.

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