Thousands of toys collected during Toy Mountain campaign

Thousands of toys will soon put smiles on children’s faces just in time for Christmas morning.

The 2024 Toy Mountain campaign wrapped up Wednesday night with a party at CTV Kitchener’s studio.

“We actually had a couple more volunteers last night once we saw how many toys were here, which is an amazing thing to have happen,” Salvation Army Captain Kelly Fifield said as a crew worked to pack up the toys Thursday morning.

Over the course of the campaign, participating businesses and local groups donated more than 4,000 toys.

Another $6,950 in monetary donations was also pledged to the cause.

The toys and gift cards have been dropped off with the Salvation Army to support their work in Waterloo Region and Guelph.

“This year we are supporting over 5,000 children with toy hampers. That’s a lot of children within our region of just Kitchener-Waterloo,” Fifield said.

“Seeing this mound of toys is exactly that reminder that people haven’t lost their joy in giving, that they continue to see that need and they step up when that need is there,” she added.

For volunteers like Robert Dockeray, knowing the community needs support is enough reason to keep coming back year after year.

“This is the most generous region in Ontario, if not Canada. It’s just wonderful, the response we get from the community. We couldn’t do it without the community, for sure,” he said.

The Salvation Army, meanwhile, is still looking for more help with their other holiday campaigns.

“We’re about 75 per cent of the way there with just a few days left in our kettle campaign. People can continue to donate all the way up to the end of December,” Fifield said.