The Christmas spirit landed in Canada’s most northern communities, thanks to a collaboration, which included OTA member Thomson Terminals, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Canadian Toy Association and the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).
The annual “Toys for the North” initiative has been delivering toys to remote Canadian communities, such as the Northwest Territories, Labrador, Manitoba, and northern Ontario, since 2010. In a statement, the RCMP said that to date, the campaign has distributed over $1 million worth of toys to roughly 4,000 children who may not otherwise receive them.
This year, the donation was valued at “more than $470,000, a record-breaking amount in a single season for the initiative,” the association said.
Thomson provided the collection, the storage, toy sort and the first leg delivery. Then the toys are transported by Thomson to CFB Trenton where they are loaded on an RCAF CC-130 Hercules, which later arrived full of toys and teen packs at Thunder Bay International Airport, where North Star Air and Gardewine Group triaged and took over the distribution. Gardewine Group transported the sorted gifts to North Star Air hangars and then delivered to places like Poplar Hill First Nation, Sachigo Lake First Nation, and Webequie First Nation.
“Each year is a new adventure for the quality and quantity of toys we will secure for our deliveries,” says Thomson Terminal’s Jim Thompson. “We are truly appreciative this year to Spin Master, the Canadian Toy Association and their members for their outstanding support.”
And as toys are transferred from offices to warehouses, to the arms of children, volunteers eagerly watch for social media updates, declaring that the part that makes all the effort worth it is the images of children smiling as they receive a gift from Santa.
Read the full story here.