(submitted photo/Hudson Bay Family and Support Centre)

By Cam Lee

Fill the cruiser

Filling a police cruiser with holiday toys in Hudson Bay

Nov 26, 2019 | 5:00 PM

The Hudson Bay Family and Support Centre (HBFSC) is partnering with Hudson Bay RCMP and the local Red Apple store for this season’s Holiday Toy Drive.

The centre’s Executive Director Sandy Bashnick told northeastNOW an RCMP cruiser will be parked in front of the Red Apple this Friday, Nov. 29.

The cruiser will be filled with new, unwrapped toys.

“What we do with the toys is we distribute them locally to kids aged zero to 18,” she said.

The program has been running for about five or six years ago.

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“We used to collect toys just around town, we had bins around town, but we thought we would just try something different,” Bashnick said. “So we partnered with the Red Apple just because it’s one of our only stores that actually carries toys in our community.”

Bashnick said they began also partnering with the RCMP a couple of years ago, and that’s when the idea to fill a cruiser came about.

This Friday is also Midnight Madness in Hudson Bay, and Bashnick said that helps with the visibility of the event, which has brought toys to as many as 45 children previously.

As for this year’s goal?

“Our goal is just to make sure that we are going to be able to fulfill all the ages of the toys that we need, for all the kids,” Bashnick said. “We really have no funding for this event, and it really, truly runs solely on donations from our community.”

Toys can also be dropped off at the Family and Support Centre on 501 Prince St., Monday to Friday. Monetary donations are also accepted.

The Red Apple will donate 10 per cent of all toy sales on Dec. 7 to HBFSC.

You can also join the HBFSC, RCMP officers and local carollers for a hot beverage and cookies from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at 202 Churchill Street.

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cam.lee@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @camlee1974