Toy drive tons of festive fun

The holiday spirit took over Penticton Secondary Thursday morning as participants in the annual Toys for Tots to Teens event filled the foyer, piling tables high with donated gifts for kids in need this season. 

The Penticton Fire Department and eager student volunteers were stationed out front to greet the hundreds of people who came through the doors bearing donations, staying to enjoy a free breakfast, choirs from local elementary schools and the host school's jazz band. 

Student organizers Katie Foreman and Matthew MacDonald set a goal for themselves ahead of the event to collect 1,500 new, unwrapped presents, and they are confident they succeeded. 

"I think it went really well, we had a lot of people come in, we have a lot of gifts piled up ready to be sorted," MacDonald said. "I think we definitely reached our goal of 1,500, I think that's safe to say."

He was especially thrilled to see that plenty of people chose to donate gifts for the 13-plus category, an age range that MacDonald said sometimes gets forgotten about.

"I saw that a lot, I went over to the teen tables and they were just as full as the others, and that made me really happy. It was so nice to see that," he said.

Special guests at the event included Santa Claus and Penticton Vees players, plus longtime major event sponsors Doug and Lorraine MacMillan, owners of the Penticton Canadian Tire. 

"We've been in it for 14 years that we've lived here, and the previous Canadian Tire owner started it with them, so I think Canadian Tire's been doing this for over 20 years now," Doug MacMillan said. "Every community needs help, we've lived in many communities across Canada and it's just great to be able to help out families in need."

At the conclusion of the event at 9 a.m., the festivities stopped but the work had only just begun. Students started sorting the presents immediately, using lists provided by local in-need families to pair appropriate gifts with specific kids, to be delivered at Christmas. 

If you missed the event, Canadian Tire will be keeping its donation bins open until the end of the weekend, and will deliver the toys to the organizing team next week.