Gifts for kids brighten Christmas

• Partnership between Kelowna RCMP and the Salvation Army
• People dropped off unwrapped gifts for kids
• Two locations - RCMP detachment and Toys-R-Us

Kelowna RCMP and the Salvation Army teamed up again to brighten Christmas for those who need assistance during the holiday season.

The annual Stuff the Cruiser Toy Drive helps families in need by collecting unwrapped gifts for children aged 12 and under.

“As police officers, we often deal with folks who are experiencing difficult times and struggling just to get by,” RCMP Cpl. Tammy Lobb told Kelowna10.

“The toy drive is one of those events where our officers have the opportunity to give back to the community and try and make Christmas a bit brighter for these families.”

For most of the day RCMP officers and volunteers from the Salvation Army were at the RCMP detachment on Richter St. and Toys-R-Us on Harvey Ave.

Although it was a rainy day, plenty of families still came out to deliver toys and take photos with RCMP officers. Some children were given candy canes and even got to look inside a police cruiser while their parents dropped off gifts.

The drive welcomes all kinds of toys but Cpl. Lobb said there are some ages that can be forgotten.

“Oftentimes, it’s the babies and the tweens who are left out a little bit,” she said.

She said it’s important to give back to the community by having campaigns like the toy drive, especially in recent years.

“From the pandemic to forest fires, and now just as the past few weeks, the flooding, so anything we can do [to] make Christmas a bit brighter for folks, that’s our intention today,” she explained.

Salvation Army volunteers were also accepting monetary donations at both locations, where social distancing and safety were taken into consideration. The toy bins were placed outside, and everyone wore masks.

Last year, over $1,000 was raised for Salvation Army Christmas programs and 710 toys were collected.